By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-25 16:05:03 | Updated at 2024-12-29 08:02:42
3 days ago
Former Super Bowl champion and NFL kicker Martin Gramatica opened up about the difficulties of his childhood before making a name for himself in the sport.
In an interview with TMZ Sport, the 49-year-old Argentine about his memoir 'Beyond The Uprights: The Intimate Memoir Of Martin Gramatica.'
During the interview, he talked about not realizing how hard his life was growing up until he had his children.
'I had a very abusive father that I speak about,' Gramatica told TMZ, adding he wasn't touching the subject for sympathy.
'I want to make sure people don't read the book and say feel sorry for me, because everything that I lived, it made me a better person and made me a better father.'
'It made me know what not to do with my kids. I want to make sure that if somebody reads the book and realizes 'I need to break this,' and I want somebody to realize it sooner than when I did. I didn't realize how bad it was until I had my first son when Nico was born.'
Super Bowl-winning placekicker Martin Gramatica opened up about his 'very abusive father'
Gramatica played for the Buccaneers and won the Super Bowl in 2003 before leaving the team
With Gramatica as his father, Nico has followed in his footsteps as the placekicker for the University of South Florida football team.
He also revealed the pact he made with his brothers to break the cycle that started with their father.
'I love that kid so much that you're thinking, 'How can I ever do what my father did to me?' So that's what I feel. I talked to my brothers and we made a pact. We got to break this,' Martin said.
'We haven't spoken [to our dad] since because we just don't want that type of abuse around our families. I have three kids. My brother Santiago has two kids, so we don't want that around our kids. That's what the book's about.'
Besides his upbringing and fatherhood experiences, Gramatica's book also highlights his NFL career and Super Bowl title with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Gramatica, who played college ball at Kansas State, was selected by the Bucs with the third pick in 1999. He remained in Tampa Bay until 2004, where he won the Super Bowl the year prior.
From there, he made short stints at Indianapolis, New England, Dallas, and New Orleans before calling it a career in 2008.
Gramatica holds one of the longest field goals in college football with a 65-yarder in 1998.
He finished his NFL career with a 76.4 completion rate, making 155 of 203 field goals. He made second-team All-Pro and a Pro Bowl appearance in 2000.
