Rod Martin, Raiders Super Bowl hero and USC standout, dead at 72
A legendary NFL coach found linebacker Rod Martin not by scouting him at USC, but almost by accident.
The Oakland Raiders had a disposable 12th-round pick in the 1977 draft, and then-coach John Madden became frustrated hearing his personnel managers consider using it on a basketball or track player. Eventually, Madden let it slip that he might find a random kid walking around the USC campus in sandals who might have more influence than that.
“Ron Wolf said, ‘All right, smart guy,'” Madden’s son Mike recalled. “So they were down to a few choices and dad said, ‘Let me call [USC coach] John Robinson.’
Robinson had a question: Was Rod Martin drafted?
Raiders linebacker Rod Martin stands on the field during a game against the Buffalo Bills on December 6, 1987 at the Coliseum.
(Mike Powell/Getty Images)
“Dad says, ‘What position does he play?’” the younger Madden said. “Robinson tells him Martin is a linebacker, and Dad says, ‘Good. A tough guy we can bang in training camp. Make him run on kicks.” And Robinson says, “No, John. Rod Martin will be on your team.
Martin did more than just be part of the team. He would go on to set a Super Bowl record with three interceptions in one of the most dominant defensive performances in championship history.
Martin, who played his entire 12-year career with the Oakland Raiders, then Los Angeles, died at age 72. The Raiders announced his death Monday, but did not provide a cause of death.
“The Raiders family is deeply saddened by the passing of Rod Martin, a standout linebacker and key player on two Super Bowl championship teams,” read a team statement.
The franchise called Martin, “a beloved member of the Raiders family and a favorite of Raiders fans everywhere.”
A two-time Super Bowl winner and two-time Pro Bowl selection, Martin saved his best game for the biggest stage. During Super Bowl XV at the Louisiana Superdome, he intercepted Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski three times during a 27–10 Raiders victory.
“What I remember about Rod was his ability to diagnose and respond,” Jaworski said by phone Monday. “In the Super Bowl, he makes two phenomenal plays. He has three interceptions, but interceptions one and two – I would like to say those were bad decisions on my part. They weren’t. I tried to take throw-ins. He just made a great play. He was a great athlete.”
Three years later, Martin was still a key part of the Raiders’ defense in a Super Bowl victory over Washington. He had a sack of quarterback Joe Theismann, a fumble recovery and a fourth-and-1 stop by John Riggins late in the third quarter of a 38-9 blowout.
Born in Welch, West Virginia, the son of a coal miner grew up in Los Angeles and attended Hamilton High before playing at Los Angeles City College and USC. The NFL considered him a preteen, too small for a 210-pound linebacker and too slow to play safety. Obviously, this was an incorrect assessment.
Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon was two years behind Martin in Hamilton, and the two remained friends throughout the decades that followed.
“We met when I was in second grade,” Moon said. “He was a senior – middle linebacker, fullback and center on the basketball team. He was the ultimate athlete. Back when I was there, I looked up to him a lot.
“He wasn’t the biggest player in the world, but he was big enough. He had the strongest hands and forearms. He could just take a tight end or whoever was coming to block him, grab his pads, push him away and make the play. He was just a really solid player.”
These are the hands that saw an opportunity with the Raiders and didn’t let it go.
“So dad walks over to the draft room,” Madden said, “looks at Ron and everyone and says, ‘We’re going to take Rod Martin, linebacker, USC.’ And they did.
