Gold Jacket Spotlight: Curtis Martin found his purpose through football

CURTIS MARTIN never wanted to play football.

So much so, his feelings toward the sport are embedded in his Enshrinement speech: “I was someone who was forced to play football,” he said.

Recalling his draft day in 1995, Curtis’ call from BILL PARCELLS and the New England Patriots did not evoke joy, but rather hesitation.

“As soon as we hang up the phone, I turn around to everyone and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I do not want to play football,' ” Curtis continued in his speech. “I don’t even know that I like football enough to try to make a career out of it.”

Curtis would join fellow Pro Football Hall of Famer BARRY SANDERS as the only runners to start their careers with 10 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, but before he could reach success on the field, it was Curtis’ pastor who convinced him to continue playing the game.

“He says, ‘Curtis, look at it this way, man.’ He said, ‘Maybe football is just something that God is giving you to do all those wonderful things that you say you want to do for other people,’ ” Curtis said. “I tell you, it was like a light bulb came on in my head.”

What Curtis’ football career enabled him to do for others is the focus of this week’s Gold Jacket Spotlight.

After the call from Parcells, Curtis took his pastor’s advice, bursting onto the scene in 1995 and immediately making an impact for the Patriots.

In his first game for New England, Curtis rushed for 30 yards on his first carry, scored the game-winning touchdown and became the first Patriots player to rush for 100 yards in his professional debut. It launched his AP Offensive Rookie of the Year season.

His first year in the league also allowed Curtis to chase the purpose introduced by his faith, starting the Curtis Martin Job Foundation with 12 to 15 percent of everything he earned.

An 11-year playing career in New England and in New York with the Jets, and his 17,430 yards from scrimmage, 100 total touchdowns and five Pro Bowls pale in comparison to his charitable career.

“For me, every yard that I gained, every touchdown I scored, that just opened up another door for me to reach another person,” Curtis said in an interview with Rick Horrow.

The Curtis Martin Job Foundation, which he continues to fund, provides “financial and hands-on support to single mothers, children’s charities, individuals with disabilities and low-income housing providers.”

The foundation’s mission is rooted in Curtis’ childhood. He was raised by a single mother in an impoverished and troubled Pittsburgh neighborhood.

“What I hope to do through my foundation is to give kids and people the opportunities that I didn’t have,” he told NBC Nightly News.

Pittsburgh is included in his efforts. In 2018, Curtis contributed to a $14 million project to rehabilitate an athletic park in his childhood neighborhood.

“What I wanted to do was just make sure that the kids have a safe environment to play in,” Curtis told an interviewer.

Curtis received the Walter Camp Football Foundation Man of the Year award in 2019 for his charitable community efforts.

Since his playing days, Curtis reflects on Parcells' selection with a slightly different outlook on being drafted.

“Aside from being the coach who drafted me, (Parcells) was the coach who shaped and molded me also into the player I became. He instilled in me certain principles and certain ways,” Curtis told Andrew Hagemann in an interview with NFL.com. “These are some things that were not only things that helped me be a good player, but they helped me be a better person.”

The sport he was forced to play opened the door for Curtis to improve not only his life, but also the lives of those around him.