Late starter Martin one step from 'Hall'
To give you some idea of just how preposterous Curtis Martin's chances of getting to the Pro Football Hall of Fame once were, consider this:
Martin didn't play football until he was a senior at Taylor Allderdice High in Pittsburgh. And even then, he did it only under pressure from his mother, Rochella, and Allderdice coach Mark Wittgartner.
"My mother forced me to play football because I grew up in such a horrible neighborhood and she wanted me to spend more time doing anything," Martin recalled of his childhood.
Wittgartner begged Martin to play because of the physical talents he'd seen in gym class. Finally, Martin agreed to try out. The results were immediate and spectacular.
"I told him I'd play and he said, 'Go get this man some equipment,' " Martin said. He was the starting back right away. That was on a Wednesday. That Saturday, Martin played his first game. On his first carry, he ran for an 80-yard touchdown.
"It seems as though it was just like fate," he said. "It was something that I was just gifted to do."
Those gifts have Martin on the verge of earning his sport's greatest honor. He is a Hall of Fame finalist, with voting on his possible induction on Saturday.
Martin, arguably the Jets' greatest player, retired after the 2005 season with only Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders having rushed for more than his 14,101 yards.
"It humbles me to say that today I'm in somewhat the same class or even right behind an Emmitt Smith, a Walter Payton, a Barry Sanders, who I think are great," Martin said. "Just to be affiliated and mentioned with those types, it's kind of mind-boggling for me because it was never my plan."
It wasn't his plan to be with the Jets. In fact, Martin admitted Tuesday that the Jets were one of the last teams he wanted to play for after spending his first three seasons with the Patriots.
"The Jets were just seen as one of the worst teams in the NFL, in my opinion, to be frank about it," said Martin, who signed a restricted free-agent deal with the team in 1997. "I had never heard of the Jets winning. Joe Namath was so far beyond my time. That was back when football, in my mind, first started. I just didn't think much of the Jets organization."
One man changed his mind.
Once Bill Parcells left the Patriots in a contract dispute after the 1996 season and signed on to coach the Jets, Martin was open to joining the team he once looked upon with contempt. It wasn't until Parcells coached the Jets for a season that he acquired Martin.
"I wanted to stay in New England," said Martin, a third-round draft pick in 1995. "Of all the teams I may have had an opportunity to go to, the Jets were one in particular that I didn't want to go to. But what made me open to it was the fact that Parcells was there."
It was the start of a brilliant run as Martin followed up his three 1,000-yard seasons in New England with another seven for the Jets.
Yet for all his brilliance on the field, the one thing Martin cherishes most is leaving the game with his good name and reputation intact.
"I'm more proud of the things that I've done off the field and the impact that I've had on the locker room and on my team as a leader," he said."The thing that I'm most pleased with is to be able to retire with a good name.''
Martin's stellar reputation as player and leader soon will land him the highest honor. He deserves to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but even if he isn't, it won't be long before Martin brings his good name to Canton.
