NFL Draft’s Mr. Irrelevant Moniker Remains Relevant After 45 Years

Melanie Salata Fitch had planned on celebrating her 65th birthday last Saturday in Las Vegas. She was scheduled to be in town for the NFL draft and invited numerous friends to join her. But the draft was moved to a virtual setting as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and Salta Fitch remained home in Newport Beach, Calif.

Still, she was able to play a role in the draft, just like her family has done since 1976. That year, her father, Paul Salata, created “Mr. Irrelevant,” a moniker for the last player selected. Salata, a former wide receiver at USC and for two seasons in the NFL in 1949 and 1950, had always admired underdogs. He was friends with former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle and asked if he could do something special for the final selection. Rozelle happily obliged.

On the day of the draft, that player received a jersey with “Mr. Irrelevant” across the back. And later in the summer, Salata would honor the player with a trip to Southern California, where Salata lives. The tradition has continued to this day.

On Saturday, the 45th “Mr. Irrelevant” was crowned. Before the pick, the ESPN cameras showed Salata Fitch, her father and her husband, Ed Fitch, sitting in Salata’s house in Newport Beach. The trio usually travels to the draft each year and introduce the player on stage. But this year, they remained home, and Salata Fitch spoke to the audience.

“With the final pick of the NFL draft, tell us, who is Mr. Irrelevant 2020?,” she said.

Dawn Aponte, the NFL’s chief administration officer, then said the New York Giants had selected Tae Crowder, a former University of Georgia linebacker. That day, the Giants forwarded Crowder’s telephone number to Salata Fitch. She and her father and husband soon called Crowder, who was at home with his mother and other family members.

“We said, ‘Oh, we’re ready to celebrate you,’” Salata Fitch said. “He thought that was great. Sometimes when they’re the last draft choice, they thought they should’ve gone in the fourth round or they’re disillusioned with the name Mr. Irrelevant. But he was very upbeat.”

Salata Fitch, who has been in charge of “Mr. Irrelevant” for the past 25 years, had planned on celebrating the player in late June or early July like always. She has created an “Irrelevant Week” in Southern California, which honors the player with a welcome party, trip to Disneyland, in-studio interviews with the NFL Network and Fox Sports and fun activities such as sailing in a regatta or surfing.

Sometimes, players have special requests. Salata remembers one year a player, who was a big fan of actor John Wayne, had lunch outside the John Wayne airport in Orange County, Calif., with Wayne’s daughter. Another year, a player went to the Playboy Mansion and had dinner with Hugh Hefner and the Playboy Bunnies.

“We thought we had lost (the player),” said Salata Fitch, laughing. “But we found him.”

The week is capped by the Lowsman Banquet, a parody of the Heisman Trophy celebration, where a crowd of 500-plus people celebrates “Mr. Irrelevant” and raises money for charities. Salata Fitch and the others who coordinate and work during “Irrelevant Week” do not get paid. They do it for fun and to help worthy causes.

This year, though, Salata Fitch expects “Irrelevant Week” will be moved to at least early August because of the social-distancing rules and mandates that prohibit large gatherings. But she’s still preparing for the week, a tradition that she’s always enjoyed.

On Monday, as she spoke about the legacy of “Mr. Irrelevant,” she was visiting her father, who is now 93 and lives two miles from her in Newport Beach. Paul Salata has had quite a career. He played in the NFL for the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts in 1949 and 1950, finishing fourth in the league in receptions in the final season. He then played a couple of seasons in the Canadian Football League because it offered him more money.

During the 1950s, Salata also acted in a few movies, including Angels in the Outfield and The Ten Commandments. He later ran a successful construction company that built freeways in Southern California, acquired rock and gravel plants and invested in land that he later sold for big profits.

Through the years, Salata has been generous giving money to charities and been involved in endowing scholarships at USC, his alma mater.

“He’s always got some quirky kind of spin on it,” Salata Fitch said. “He didn’t want to endow the quarterback of the team. He wanted to endow the captain of special teams.”

Salata’s appreciation for underdogs was the driving force behind creating “Mr. Irrelevant.” Although most of the players do not become household names in the NFL, some have lasted in the league, most notably kicker Ryan Succop, who appeared in 166 games from 2009 through last year, and defensive back Michael Green, who played in 104 games from 2000 through 2008.

Crowder, who is 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds, is looking to make a similar impact. Last season, he was second on Georgia with 62 tackles and started all 14 games for a team that finished 12-2 and ranked fourth in the final Associated Press poll.

Crowder, a Pine Mountain, Ga., native, told Salata Fitch on Saturday that he has only been to California once, when Georgia defeated Oklahoma in the 2018 College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl. Salata Fitch is now hoping “Irrelevant Week” can take place this year, so she can show Crowder a good time in her hometown.

“We think it’s irrelevant he’s drafted last,” she said. “It’s an honor to be drafted at all. (Crowder) sounds like a really nice guy. We’d like to celebrate him.”

Originally written by Tim Casey from Forbes. The article can be found on Forbes.com