Warren Moon picks up a football, drops back a few steps and throws a pass. The ball sails in a perfect spiral and with superb accuracy, which many receivers and fans love to see, and falls into the hands of his 20-year-old son Joshua, who plays wide receiver at a small college.

Since he put an end to his professional football career this past January, this is one of the happiest moments for Moon. He still hasn't quite figured out how to live life without football, which is a very unfamiliar situation for him.

"I've been taking some time to figure out what I would like to do for the rest of my life," said Moon, who recently visited Japan to promote the National Football League, in an exclusive interview with The Japan Times. "I've been spending a lot of time with my (four) kids and doing a lot of different things that I haven't had time to do in the past."

While Moon's good-guy public image took a hit in the last few years of his career due to a domestic-assault charge brought by his wife, there's no arguing that he has had a brilliant career on the field.

One of the amazing things about Moon is that he played a remarkable 23 seasons of pro football (six in the Canadian Football League and 17 in the NFL). Not only did he play for a long time, but he also maintained his stature as one of the premier quarterbacks in the game throughout his entire career.

When he started for the Kansas City Chiefs last season at the age of 44, Moon became the oldest quarterback to start a game in club history. He was 40 years old when he joined the Seattle Seahawks in 1997 and still started 24 games in his two-season stint there. At 37, he led the NFC with 4,264 passing yards in 1994 with the Minnesota Vikings. Remember, Joe Montana called it a career at the age of 38, as did John Elway and Dan Marino. Even for those prime-time quarterbacks, it was so hard to keep up to the NFL level as they aged.

"I didn't want to take much time off when the season was over. I took a week off and went back to the gym and started working out again," Moon said. "I wanted to stay on top. The older you get, the harder it is to get back in shape. I was always doing weight training to keep my muscles active. That's the reason I never got away from it. "Mentally, I love competition. In regular life, I just don't see anything that motivates me like football does because football really pushes you to the limits physically, mentally and emotionally. I enjoyed this feeling and I could continue to play because of that. That'll be the thing I'm going to miss."

Moon played 208 NFL regular-season games with the Houston Oilers, Vikings, Seahawks and Chiefs. He completed 3,988 of 6,823 attempts for 49,325 yards and 291 touchdowns.

His pass attempts, completions and passing yardage all rank third behind only Marino (4,967 of 8,358 for 61,361 yards) and Elway (4,123 of 7,250 for 51,475) in the NFL's all-time records. If Moon had started his pro career in the NFL, instead of the CFL, the numbers would have been even higher. If you count his statistics in the CFL (ignoring the rule differences), his career record would be 5,357 of 9,205 for 70,553 yards -- numbers that surpass even Marino, the master of the passing game.

Moon led the University of Washington to a 27-20 victory over Michigan in the 1977 Rose Bowl and was named the game's MVP. But many thought Moon was not good enough to play in the NFL.

"When I came out of college, a lot of people didn't think that I had the tools to be an NFL quarterback," Moon said. "People thought I was too short to play that position, my arm was not strong enough."

There was another reason Moon decided to skip the NFL draft that year, knowing he would not be drafted high.

"It's something about the color of my skin," Moon said. "Being a black quarterback at that time didn't make you too popular (with NFL teams) because there were stereotypes that black people were not able to be leaders.

"I had to go to Canada because there were opportunities to play that position without worrying about the color of my skin and other things. I got the chance to prove myself a little bit more."

Moon signed with the Edmonton Eskimos in the spring of 1978, six weeks prior to the NFL draft. Year by year, Moon's passing statistics only got better. He threw for 1,112 yards in his rookie season, but the number improved to 5,648 yards in his last season with the Eskimos in 1983. During that span, Moon helped the Esks win five straight Grey Cup titles, the CFL championship.

In Canada, Moon earned the reputation of having a cannon-like arm and being a pin-point passer. He decided to take a shot at the NFL.

"(Playing in the NFL) was a goal and dream for every young kid growing up in the United States," Moon said. "(The Eskimos) won five straight championships. I needed another challenge. It was my opportunity to go back and really prove to myself that I was good enough to play in the NFL and show exactly where I fit in among the best players in football."

It was the Houston Oilers who gave Moon the chance to showcase his talents in the U.S., and he signed with the team on March 1, 1984. At that time, the Oilers were in a rebuilding process after a 2-14 season and had just hired a new coach -- Moon's old boss up in Edmonton, Hugh Campbell.

As soon as he joined the team, Moon earned the starting position for the Oilers, and after Jerry Glanville replaced Campbell in the 1985 season and introduced the pass-oriented run-and-shoot offense, Moon gradually gained status as one of the best passers in the NFL.

These days in the NFL, it is not uncommon to see black quarterbacks. At least 10 black QBs, including Moon, started a game last season. But it was not in the case in the mid-1980s. When he started in the NFL, Moon was the only black quarterback in the league. Then Doug Williams and Vince Evans returned from the fledgling USFL and Randall Cunningham later entered the NFL. Williams eventually became the first black quarterback to win the Super Bowl (XXII in 1988). He was also named the game's MVP. "More black quarterbacks started to come into the league and the more success we had, I think the game opened the door and gave more opportunities to other young black quarterbacks coming along," Moon said. "Now you see a lot of young black quarterbacks doing well in the league and I think that is because of the progress we made back in those earlier days."

His achievements -- passing records, five straight Grey Cups, a pioneer for black quarterbacks, his numerous charity activities off the field -- should be remembered for years to come. But there is one thing he has never attained -- a Super Bowl championship. Moon never guided his NFL teams beyond the divisional playoffs.

"(The Super Bowl) is the only thing I have regret and disappointment about," Moon said. "I definitely had at least two opportunities to get there, but those opportunities got away. I did so many other things in football that I never thought I would do. My career was definitely rewarding to me, but I will always look back and say, 'I wish I could have won one of those rings.' "