Ricardo Lockette's dad shares an incredible story about Marshawn Lynch
Marshawn Lynch made his graceful exit from the NFL this offseason, hanging up his cleats (quite literally) after nine years. He’ll forever be known for eating Skittles, his Bill Belichickian press conferences and most importantly, bulldozing defenders as Beast Mode.
All of those things were made abundantly apparent during his playing days, but there was a side of Lynch that we didn’t all see. He had a serious, kind-hearted side that wasn’t always in the public eye.
That part of Lynch’s personality came through during one of the scariest moments of last season – one that threatened former Seahawks receiverRicardo Lockette’s life.
Lockette suffered a serious neck injury against the Cowboys last season that nearly killed him. The former Seahawks receiver said he thought he was going to die on the field as he was taken to the hospital, never to see a football field again.
Lynch was there for Lockette during a frightening time, and it went mostly unnoticed by everyone outside of the organization and family.
“We were in there with Ricardo and everything was in a sad mode,” said Earl Lockette Sr., Ricardo’s dad. “A nurse comes up and says, ‘We don’t know much about football, Mr. Lockette, but there’s a guy outside who says he needs to be in here. He says he plays with Ricardo, and his name is Marshawn Lynch.’ I go to the lobby, and Marshawn has his bags. He said, ‘I knew it was more than what they told me when I saw him go down. I knew it was more severe than that and I could not leave him here.’
“What Ricardo didn’t know is that Marshawn peeked in the room and saw he was in there, in the bed, strapped down, couldn’t move, and he cried like a baby. Marshawn did. I won’t tell you everything he did, but he took a couple steps back and soaked those tears up, and he went in there and made my son feel like he could run and jump.”
Lynch cheered up Lockette and his family by cracking jokes and being the character that he is. But he was also incredibly helpful to Lockette’s loved ones. Lynch made sure they never had to worry about transportation or anything besides Ricardo, who wasn’t sure what the future held for him.
“He said” ‘I’ve got you guys. You don’t have to worry about anything.’ When I say he meant that, he really did," Ricardo's dad said. "He took care of us for a period of time to make sure we didn’t have to worry about getting places, transportation, anything. He did that.”
Lynch may not be with the Seahawks or in the NFL any longer, but he left a huge mark on everyone he came across.
"Don’t be doing all that crying because Beast Mode don’t cry, and if you cry, I’m going to cry.”
The first time she met Lynch, she kept reminding herself to keep it together. She hugged him, told herself not to squeeze so tight, then asked for a second hug. She told Lynch he could call her Dee; he refused.
“I’m calling you Momma,” he said.
But that’s not the best part of the story. After the Seahawks signed Rawls as an undrafted free agent, she kept asking if he’d seen Marshawn. When Lynch arrived, he didn’t say anything. Just watched.
Finally, he came up to Rawls. “I see it in you,” he said.
When Deadra surprised Rawls with a visit later that year, Lynch told her not to worry about her son, whom she calls Ty.
“The way he talked about Ty, as a parent, I was just so blown away with how he embraced him,” she said. “He really wanted to help him. He saw something in him. People are cheated when they don’t get to meet him on a real level.”
Defensive end Cliff Avril
“It’s not even a football thing. Knowing that I’m Haitian, he actually put me in contact with the people he’s been working with who go around the world and build schools. He put me in contact with them and told me if there was anything I needed as far as building a school or his support, he was all in. And he has definitely been all in. He has been to both trips that my foundation has taken to Haiti to build a school, and he has also pledged to help me build a classroom for the school. We were just casually talking about our foundations one day and I said, ‘One day I’d like to build a school.’ When the opportunity presented itself with him, the first person he thought of was me. He introduced me, and for him to even think about me was pretty cool. We’ll go on these trips and we’ll talk to the people handling the school, and he wanders off and is playing football and soccer with the kids"
Center Justin Britt
“Any time I see Marshawn, he always asks how my kids are doing. He was always there at my daughter’s birthday parties. That meant a lot. She doesn’t know what’s going on, but it meant a lot to me that he cared enough about his offensive lineman’s family to show up to the party. He didn’t have to. I didn’t beg him or anything. Just invited him. But he went out of his way to show up, and he always asks how my family is doing.”
Offensive tackle Garry Gilliam
“It was last year, toward the beginning of the year, when we weren’t doing so well. It was before one of our Saturday meetings before a game. I was there, Russell Okung was there, and Marshawn was there, and they were talking. I went up to him, and I forget exactly what we were talking about, but he was talking about his mentality and how he goes into a game. … He was like, ‘You just have to say (expletive) them, (expletive) everything they stand for. You go out there and impose your will on them. Just be that person. It doesn’t matter what they’re doing, who they are, what they are. Just (expletive) them and go do it. Go beat their (expletive).’ Honestly, I was like, ‘You’re right.’ When he plays, you can see that. He doesn’t care what’s going on, who it is, what it is, if the play is broken down. He’s just like, ‘(expletive) him. I’m about to go handle my business.’
While Lynch is gone, his presence still looms large around the Seahawks organization.The Seattle Times caught up with a few guys on Seattle’s roster and asked for their favorite Marshawn stories. Here’s one from Doug Baldwin…
"My first week here, we were outside on the field, and I was talking to Justin Forsett. I kind of knew Justin a little bit, so we were talking about Stanford. He brings Marshawn over and goes, ‘He’s a Stanford kid.’ And Marshawn goes, ‘Maaaaan, (expletive) Stanford.’ And that was my introduction to Marshawn. He wasn’t trying to be negative or anything. He was trying to set the tone."
…and here’s another from Bobby Wagner.
"As a rookie, you kind of go too hard at practice. He came to the defensive huddle and told me I was going too hard and really was getting in my face. And then after practice, he came up to me and was like: ‘Don’t stop doing what you’re doing. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you could be really good in this league.’ It was a test to see if I was going to back down. Ever since that point, he’s always been on me: ‘Don’t be like the other linebackers."
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