After winning five Grey Cups in six years with Edmonton, Moon continued to set passing records with Houston that put him on par with players like Dan Marino (right). Al Tielemans/SI

Now there was the victory party. Felicia danced and Moon danced, and at some point in the festivities, some kids from Crenshaw arrived. Moon stopped dancing. Were they here for him? No. A Hamilton kid was dancing with a Crenshaw kid's girl, and as the fight began, as the kid from Crenshaw grabbed a lamp and swung it at the Hamilton kid's head, Moon grabbed Felicia's hand and pulled her out the front door. He started running down the street, and she ran with him. When the sound of pistol shots came from the house, Moon and Felicia dived to the sidewalk together.

"My shoes," she said. "They're still back there."

"I told you not to take off your shoes," he said. "Maybe now you'll learn."

Daddy. Daddy Warren. She never saw the shoes again and never went to another party for the rest of the season. Daddy Warren wouldn't allow it.

He is the father. Always the father.... This was not a normal postgame moment in a locker room. The son was crying, and the father had fathering work to do. The newly enriched quarterback of the Houston Oilers, the All-Pro, had to conduct an extemporaneous lesson on racism. The night was Dec. 2, 1991, or maybe it was the early morning of Dec. 3. Whatever. The Oilers had lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 13-6. The week before, he had thrown five interceptions against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The quarterback was married now to Felicia, and they had four children. Joshua, 9, was the oldest. He was sitting in the stands with his mother at the Astrodome, and the crowd became ugly. The quarterback was on the verge of signing a five-year contract extension, and the news was public. The Oilers could not cross the goal line, and the boos increased. The words became nastier. On the way out of the stands, Joshua heard a man say, "I can't believe they gave that f------ n----- $14.3 million." Joshua had never heard the second bad word before. He wasn't really sure what it all meant, but he knew it was bad.

His father had to explain. There were cameras in the room. There were reporters. It was the worst possible situation in which to talk about deep and disturbing subjects, but that did not matter.

"I am the type of person who confronts things when they arise," Moon says now. "This was something to confront."

He explained the word to his son. He explained what the man was saying. He explained that there are ignorant people in the world who say ignorant things. He said that while the man was directing those things at him, he was not the only target. The man hated a race of people. He would say ignorant things about a lot of people. Most people did not feel the way he did, but a few did. That was a sad fact of life.

The reporters who watched -- John McClain of the Houston Chronicle was one of them -- were touched. McClain says, "It made you want to cry." The amazing aspect of the episode was the fact that Moon already was a solid member of the Houston community. This was his eighth season since coming down from Canada; he had picked Houston over five other NFL cities in a flat-out bidding war. He was a civic pillar, living year-round in Houston, making appearances everywhere, even establishing his own charitable foundation. What more did he have to do? The team's record, even with the loss, was 9-4. Was he a quarterback when he won and a "black quarterback" when he lost? Or was he always a "black quarterback," no matter what he did?

The days that followed were ugly too. His foundation logged more than 200 calls that echoed the racist words in the stands. The talk shows were brutal. Moon heard a list of rumors: He was a crack addict. He was separated from his wife. He had AIDS because he was a friend of the basketball player Magic Johnson. None of them were close to truth. Crack? He had never smoked a cigarette.

The rumors continued until Moon responded in the middle of the week on his TV show. He apologized. Apologized? He told the people that he was sorry that he had played lousy, that he would try not to do it again. He said the loss was his fault. He said he hoped to play better. It was an astonishing response.