When long-time Arizona Rattlers faithful think of some of the greats to wear the uniform, Hunkie Cooper is one of the first names that come to mind. Two weeks ago, his franchise-leading reception mark was passed by another extremely successful Rattler receiver, Rod Windsor.
The 6-3 receiver out of Western New Mexico has been an integral piece to the Rattlers success during their great run to three AFL Championships in the last four years. Now he is beginning to etch his name among the all-time Rattler greats as he passed Cooper and then a week later, surpassed the 10,000 yards receiving mark.
“It’s been great to be accomplishing goals and come in and do some things you set out to do,” Windsor told Sports360AZ. “I never though I would surpass these guys man…it’s a blessing.”
Not bad for someone who was a quarterback and not a receiver for much of his career before the AFL.
“A lot of time, people take quarterbacks and make them an athlete,” mentioned Rattlers head coach and general manager Kevin Guy. “He made the transition well. He’s always had great hands and because he played quarterback, he had some intelligence in terms of common sense of the game and things just kind of came easy to him.”
Windsor has been a star in this Rattlers offense with former MVP Quarterback Nick Davila and has put together a Hall-of-Fame career during his time in Arizona. Something that he would have dreamed of accomplishing after his college days came to an end.
“My ambition was to get to the NFL,” Windsor recalled. “That was my main goal and a lot of guys told me I couldn’t do it. It was just getting the opportunity to play Arena Football and taking it as it comes, worked hard at it and it has turned out good for me.”
While the accomplishments have been great in the grand scheme of things for Windsor, the first thing he mentioned was that they lost the two games that he set the records. Windsor and the Rattlers appear to have a chip on their shoulder as the L.A. Kiss come to town this Saturday to Downtown Phoenix.
