Curtis Martin

At 51 years old, Curtis Martin has this physical status:

Curtis James Martin Jr. (born May 1, 1973) is a former American football running back who spent the majority of his career with the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL).

Martin began his professional career with the New England Patriots, who selected him in the third round of the 1995 NFL Draft.

He joined the Jets in 1998 as a free agent, but he ended his career in 2007 due to a career-ending knee injury in the 2006 NFL season.

He retired as the fourth leading rusher in NFL history.

In 2012, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Early years

Curtis Jr. was born on May 1, 1973, and Curtis Sr. and Rochella Dixon were married. Curtis Sr. left the family in 1978 after switching to heroin and alcohol, leaving Curtis' mother to care for the children by working three jobs. Curtis walked around Pittsburgh's diverse neighborhoods during his youth and was often surrounded by violence. Eleanor Johnson, his grandmother, was discovered with a knife in his chest, and Martin, 15, had a near-death encounter when the trigger of a loaded gun pointed at his head seven times but never fired;

Prior to his sophomore year of high school, he and his mother settled in Point Breeze. He began attending Taylor Allderdice High School, which was known for its respectable academic reputation. As a freshman, he played basketball but didn't participate in any sports during his junior year. Curtis began playing football during his senior year at the request of his mother, who wanted him to avoid crime and violence as a way to discourage him from crime and violence.

Martin was deemed a natural performer by former head coach Mark Wittgartner and became a regular fixture on the football team, according to former head coach Mark Wittgartner. He appeared in running back and linebacker positions. He has also played on special teams and occasionally at quarterback. In his lone season of high school football, he ran for 1,705 yards and 20 touchdowns. Martin graduated from Allderdice in 1991 and was inducted into the alumni hall of fame in 2011.

Martin's appearance at Allderdice drew the attention of football coach Paul Hackett of the University of Pittsburgh. Although other bids were accepted, Martin decided to stay close to home and attend Pittsburgh.

Personal life

Martin and his mother Rochella began a long-descalation process with his father, Curtis Sr., who had left the family due to his cocaine and alcohol use. Curtis Sr. went into a veterans' hospital for two weeks, followed by six weeks in a rehabilitation center, and was able to remain sober until his death from cancer in June 2009. In the final weeks of the elder Martin's life, the family members made peace with each other.

In a marriage that took place at Oheka Castle in Huntington, Long Island, Martin married longtime girlfriend Carolina Williams. The couple welcomed their first child, Ava, on December 15, 2011.

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College career

When Martin arrived in 1991, he was expected to be a valuable contributor to the Panthers, as Hackett likened to Tony Dorsett. However, injuries dogged much of his college career. In ten games, he rushed for 1,045 yards and caught 33 passes for 249 yards, but he missed the final two due to a sprained shoulder. Martin started his senior season with a high 251 yards against Texas, but he was sidelined against Ohio the next week, and he missed the remainder of the season.

Martin had the option to redshirt and play one more season at Pittsburgh or join the NFL Draft. "In the end it was the right thing to do," the author wrote. If Martin stayed another season at Pittsburgh and remained injury-free, he may have been a first-round pick, according to draft analysts. Martin was known for his speed—he ran 4.4 in the 40-yard dash—and his slashing running style.

Professional career

Following the 1994 season, the Patriots moved three running backs to free agency and attempted to fortify their backfield. Kevin Turner, the Philadelphia Eagles' restricted free agent, was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles as a restricted free agent, and Philadelphia sent a third-round pick to New England. Despite questions about his tenacity, the Patriots used the pick to draft Martin in the 1995 NFL Draft. Martin signed a deal with the team on July 19, 1995, and made his NFL debut in the Patriots' Week One victory over the Cleveland Browns. Martin went for 30 yards on his first carry and finished with 102 yards on the day. On his first appearance, he became the first Patriots rookie to rush for 100 yards. During the season, Martin maintained his good run and rushed for over 100 yards eight times. With 1,487 yards and 14 touchdowns, he was the AFC's top rusher of the season. He received the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award and was selected to the Pro Bowl, as well as the offensive Rookie of the Year award.

Martin only passed for 100 yards twice during the season, but he had 1,152 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns. Martin, who was playing in his first appearance in playoffs, was a key role in the Patriots' dramatic win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. He rushed for a then-record 166 yards and three touchdowns, including a 78-yard touchdown, in the second-longest playoff run in history at the time. The Patriots continued to participate in Super Bowl XXXI, but they lost to the Green Bay Packers. Martin ran for 42 yards, three passes for 28 yards, and scored a touchdown in the game. It was during this game that a young Adrian Peterson fell in love with his hero Curtis Martin and promised to wear the number 28 in his honor. Martin was also selected to the Pro Bowl for the second time.

Martin became a restricted free agent after the 1997 season. Eugene Parker, Martin's rep, contacted the New York Jets on the first day of the free agency season to check whether the players were interested in signing the running back. An offer sheet was created after negotiations between Parker and Jets head coach Bill Parcells and general manager Bill Parcells. Despite Martin's reservations about playing in New York and particularly against a division rival, the presence of his former coach Parcells influenced his decision to join the Jets. Martin agreed to a six-year, $36 million poison pill deal on March 20, 1998. Martin's "poison pill" was a clause in the contract that stated that if the Patriots made the offer, he would have become an unrestricted free agent after one year, and it would have required New England to pay a $3.3 million roster bonus, which would have violated their salary cap. The Patriots did not match the offer under these circumstances, but the Jets received the first and third rounds picks in the 1998 NFL Draft as compensation after filing a lawsuit with the NFL administration council, alleging that the contract breached the terms of the league's collective bargaining agreement at the time.

Martin played just one game in his first seven seasons with the Jets, and he was selected to the Pro Bowl three times. In 1998, Martin scrimmaged 182 yards and scored two touchdowns against the Jacksonville Jaguars in a Jets playoff victory. Martin rushed for 196 yards against the Cincinnati Bengals in the team's home opener, and he'd rush for over 100 yards eight times this season, totaling 1,697 yards. Martin won the NFL rushing title by a single yard over runner Shaun Alexander, who was the first player to win the rushing title in league history at the age 31. Martin was named the FedEx Ground Player of the Year and named an All-Pro and welcomed to his fifth and final Pro Bowl.

Martin became the career rushing yards leader after Emmitt Smith's retirement in 2004. In 2005, Martin sustained what was described as a strained right knee injury in the Jets' second game of the season against the Miami Dolphins when he was tackled by linebacker Zach Thomas. Following a noticeable decrease in output, Martin continued to play through the season, with only passing for 100 or more yards on the entire season. Martin joined Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, and Emmitt Smith as the only running backs to rush for 14,000 yards in their career on November 27, 2005. The severity of the knee injury had risen by December, and Martin, who had hoped to become Smith's second player, refused to rush for 1,000 yards in 11 seasons, ending with 735 yards on the season. Martin debuted on the Physically Unable to Perform list in 2006 as the post-operative recovery period took longer than anticipated, despite the fact that the surgical procedure was minimally invasive. Despite months of recovery, Martin was ruled out for the season with a bone-on-bone injury in his right knee. Martin re-negotiated his deal to help ensure more salary cap space for the Jets, and ended his career with 14,101 total rushing yards, the fifth highest number in NFL history.

Following Martin's retirement, the former NFL manager expressed an interest in buying an NFL franchise. He continued to participate in various charitable causes, including the Curtis Martin Job Foundation, which was established by Martin during his playing days and aims to provide "financial assistance and hands-on assistance to single mothers, children's charities, people with disabilities, and low income housing providers."

Martin was considered for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2011; however, he was not selected. Martin, along with former head coach and mentor Bill Parcells, made a strong candidate for selection in 2012. He was selected for induction on February 4, 2012 and officially inducted on August 4, 2012. Critics also lauded Martin's address, which was conducted without notes.

Martin's No. 2 was discarded by the Jets in 2009. On September 9, 2012, 28 jerseys in a halftime celebration at New York's season-opening game against the Buffalo Bills.

Following a locker room hazing incident involving Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin, Martin was added to the Miami Dolphins' five-man team to create the conduct code by owner Stephen M. Ross on November 11, 2013.

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