MARTIN MOURNS HALL OF LOSS
‘Heart dropped’ when he learned of Kennedy’s death
Five summers ago, Curtis Martin stood on the stage in Fawcett Stadium in Canton with Cortez Kennedy as new members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2012. It was the validation every player dreams about. The journey starts in the schoolyard and goes through Pop Warner and high school, then if they are talented enough, they play in college and then on to the NFL.
Martin was elected to the HOF in his second year of eligibility, Kennedy in his seventh.
At the time, Martin was 39, Kennedy was 43.
They competed against each other on the field — Martin, a running back with the Patriots and Jets, ranks Kennedy, a defensive tackle who played his entire 11-year career with the Seahawks, along with Bruce Smith and Tony Siragusa as the best he went up against. But now they had a lifelong bond. That happens with Hall of Famers, particularly when they go into the Hall in the same year.
They were classmates for life. Friends for life. They texted and talked and were thinking about going to Israel and the Vatican this summer as part of a Hall of Fame trip. They had not spoken for a couple of months. “We always talked about getting together,” Martin said.
Then Martin received the awful news Tuesday when he was on a business trip to Milwaukee. Kennedy was found dead at his home in Orlando at the age of 48. The cause of death has not been released.
“My heart dropped,” Martin told the Daily News on Wednesday. “One of my colleagues said to me, ‘Did you know Cortez Kennedy has passed?’ I said, ‘No, no.’ It’s sad. Cortez and I spoke more than any of our other classmates.”
Although they hadn’t spoken recently, Martin was hoping they would be traveling abroad together soon or at least be seeing each other at this summer’s Hall of Fame inductions in Canton. Instead, Kennedy is the third of Martin’s friends to die in the last two weeks.
“He had such a personality,” Martin said. “He’s funny. He had the biggest heart. Just a good-hearted guy. He played like a beast, but he was a very thoughtful, considerate guy. He was not a bully. He was a gentle giant. In his Hall of Fame speech, we joked about him thanking his pediatrician. But he was that kind of guy. Even though the doctor was from when he was three or five years old, he still knew the guy and had a relationship.”
Martin grew up in a rough area of Pittsburgh with death all around him. He played football to get him off the streets and protect him. He never thought he would make it to the age of 21.
Somehow, his upbringing conditioned him to death.
“I’m so used to losing people, whether natural or unnatural causes,” he said. “I’ve learned to live appreciating every single day. That’s why I feel I live to maximize my life. I’ve seen too many lives cut short in an instant.”
The Jets made a big mistake in the 1990 draft with the second overall pick. After the Colts selected quarterback Jeff George, the Jets were on the clock and had their choice of Kennedy from the University of Miami or USC linebacker Junior Seau. They instead selected Penn State running back Blair Thomas, who was a huge disappointment and lasted only four years before bouncing around the NFL.
Kennedy and Seau had Hall-of-Fame careers, but incredibly, both are now dead. Seau committed suicide in 2012 with a gunshot to his chest. He was diagnosed posthumously with CTE, the degenerative brain disease.
Orlando police said there was nothing suspicious to report about Kennedy’s death.
“I don’t think it was football-related,” Martin said. “I’m not saying this in defense of football, but a lot of things are just natural causes. Most NFL players are big people and usually not the healthiest of guys.”
As the days approached leading up to the induction in 2012, Martin made a pact with the others going in that unless something urgent came up, they would attend the ceremony each summer to support the new class and as a tribute to the Hall of Fame. Martin, Kennedy, Chris Doleman, Dermontti Dawson, Willie Roaf and the senior inductee, Jack Butler, agreed they would return to Canton.
Butler died the following May at the age of 85. Kennedy didn’t make it back last summer and the others gave him a hard time. He had a previous commitment. “You’re the only one that broke the pact,” Martin told Kennedy.
Now, sadly, he is gone.