Former Super Bowl champion and NFL kicker Martin Gramatica opened up about his childhood struggles before making a name for himself in the sport.
In an interview with TMZ Sportthe 49-year-old Argentinian about his memoir ‘Beyond The Uprights: The Intimate Memoir Of Martin Gramatica.’
During the interview, he said he didn’t realize how difficult his life was growing up until he had his children.
“I had a very abusive father that I’m talking about,” Gramatica told TMZ, adding that he didn’t broach the subject out of sympathy.
“I want to make sure people don’t read the book and say they feel sorry for me, because everything I’ve been through has made me a better person and a better father.”
“It’s made me know what not to do with my kids. I want to make sure that if someone reads the book and realizes, ‘I have to break this,’ and I want someone 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 followed in his footsteps as a 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 child so much that you think, ‘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 have to break this,” Martin said.
‘We haven’t spoken [to our dad] because we just don’t want this kind of abuse around our families. I have three children. My brother Santiago has two children, so we don’t want that around our children. That’s what the book is about.’
In addition to 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 overall pick in 1999. He stayed in Tampa Bay until 2004, where he won the Super Bowl the year before.
From there, he had brief stints in Indianapolis, New England, Dallas and New Orleans before calling it a career in 2008.
Gramatica has one of the longest field goals in college football with a 65-yard mark in 1998.
He finished his NFL career with a 76.4 completion percentage, making 155 of 203 field goals. He made a second-team All-Pro appearance and a Pro Bowl appearance in 2000.