How Randy Moss surprised Larry Fitzgerald Jr. with welcome to Pro Football Hall of Fame ... on a boat

Larry Fitzgerald Jr. isn’t just a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026. He is a businessman, a busy guy, a lover of all life has to offer and not one who’s often found just sitting around the house.

This made things difficult last month for Jim Porter, the Hall’s president and CEO, and the guy who has to orchestrate the filming of the famous “Knock” that symbolizes each new member’s welcome to the Hall of Fame.

“Jim calls me and says, ‘Hollis, I got a problem,’” said Hollis Cavner, CEO of Pro Links Sports.

Cavner’s company stages several pro golf tournaments, including the PGA Tour’s 3M Open in Blaine and next week’s PGA Tour Champions James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational in Boca Raton, Fla.

Cavner is also a jovial guy with a larger-than-life personality and a knack for instantly befriending anyone he’s ever met. He is a longtime friend of Fitzgerald, the former Holy Angels star, and an even longer-time friend of Larry Sr., a Twin Cities sportswriter.

“First off, I had to sign an NDA [non-disclosure agreement] and then Jim says, ‘I’m having a hard time pinning Larry down,’” Cavner said. “‘He’s in the Hall of Fame, but we can’t tie him down long enough to do the ‘Knock’ at his place. You’re his buddy, can you help us do a reverse ‘Knock,’ where he shows up somewhere and we surprise him that way?’”

Fitzgerald Jr. was going to be in Boca Raton meeting with the rest of the board of directors of Dick’s Sporting Goods. Cavner lives there and is a first-ballot get-things-done kind of guy.

“I say, ‘Dick, I need your boat.’ He said, ‘Where ya going?’ I said, ‘Nowhere, and, oh yeah, your whole crew will need to sign NDAs.’ He goes, ‘Uh-oh.’ I say, ‘Don’t worry, no one will get arrested.’”

Fitzgerald was in his business meeting when he got a text from Cavner saying he wanted to show him the new boat he bought. Fitzgerald texted right back to accept the offer. Cavner picked him up and drove him to the yacht club.

Unbeknownst to Fitzgerald, Vikings legend and fellow first-ballot Hall of Fame receiver Randy Moss was waiting inside with the good news.

“Fitz being Fitz, we’re about to step onto the boat and he’s like, ‘After you, Hollis,’” Cavner said. “Always Mr. Polite. So I say, ‘No, after you.’ And I kind of push him onto the boat. He walks in and there was Moss. It was so cool.”

Fitzgerald first met Moss in 1998 when Moss was starting his Hall of Fame NFL career and Fitzgerald was a Vikings ballboy.

A week later, Fitzgerald told ESPN: “Man, I had no clue. … And I’m pretty good at that stuff. I pick up on things pretty quickly. I picked up on none of the clues.