Rod

A legendary NFL coach found linebacker Rod Martin not by scouting him at USC, but almost by accident.

The Oakland Raiders had a throwaway 12th-round pick in the 1977 draft, and then-coach John Madden grew frustrated hearing his personnel executives contemplate using it on a basketball player or track guy. Finally, Madden blurted out that he could find a random kid walking around the USC campus in sandals who could make more of an impact than that.

“Ron Wolf says, ‘All right, smart guy,’” recalled Madden’s son, Mike. “So they were a couple picks away and dad goes, ‘Let me call [USC coach] John Robinson.’”

Robinson had one question: Has Rod Martin been drafted?

Raiders linebacker Rod Martin stands on the field during a game against the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 6, 1987, at the Coliseum.

(Mike Powell / Getty Images)

“Dad goes, ‘What position does he play?’” the younger Madden said. “Robinson tells him Martin is a linebacker, and dad goes, ‘Good. Tough guy we can knock around in training camp. Have him run down on kicks.’ And Robinson says, ‘No, John. Rod Martin will make your team.’”

Martin did a lot more than make 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 would play his entire 12-year career with the Oakland then Los Angeles Raiders, is dead at age 72. The Raiders announced his death Monday but did not specify 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 a two-time Pro Bowl selection, Martin saved his best game for the biggest stage. In Super Bowl XV at the Louisiana Superdome, he intercepted Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski three times in a 27-10 Raiders victory.

“What I remember about Rod was his ability to diagnose and react,” Jaworski said by phone Monday. “In the Super Bowl, he makes two phenomenal plays. He has three interceptions, but interceptions one and two — I’d like to say they were bad decisions on my part. They weren’t. I tried to squeeze throws in. He just made a great play. He was a great athlete.”

Three years later, Martin was still a key component to 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-one stop of John Riggins late in the third quarter of a 38-9 blowout.

Born in Welch, W. Va., the son of a coal miner grew up in Los Angeles and attended Hamilton High before going on to play at Los Angeles City College and USC. The NFL saw him as a tweener, too small for linebacker at 210 pounds and too slow to play safety. Clearly, that was a faulty assessment.

Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon was two years behind Martin at Hamilton, and the two remained friends throughout the decades that followed.

“We met when I was a sophomore,” Moon said. “He was a senior — middle linebacker, fullback and center on the basketball team. He was the ultimate athlete. At the time I was there, I looked up to him quite a lot.

“He wasn’t the biggest guy in the world, but he was big enough. He had the strongest hands and the strongest forearms. He could just take a tight end or whoever came to block him, grab his pads, shove him off and go make the play. He was just a real solid player.”

It was those hands that grabbed an opportunity with the Raiders and didn’t let go.

“So dad goes marching into the draft room,” Madden said, “looks at Ron and everybody else and says, ‘We’re going to take Rod Martin, linebacker, USC.’ And they did.”

Loose Women’s Penny Lancaster shared insights into her marriage to Sir Rod Stewart and revealed how they keep their spark alive after 26 years together

Penny Lancaster has opened up about the secret behind her successful marriage to Rod Stewart. The couple have been together for 26 years, tying the knot in 2007 and going on to welcome two sons, Alastair Stewart and Aiden Stewart.

Penny, 55, Rod’s third wife and his longest marriage to date, shared what has helped keep their relationship strong – and the main reason might come as a surprise.

According to the former model, spending weeks apart has played a huge role in keeping things exciting. She told Best Magazine: “We don’t [live in each other’s pockets] and time apart helps keep the spark alive.”

At the time of the interview, the pair had been apart for three weeks and were planning on reuniting.

She told the publication: “We’re desperately missing each other and have been counting down the days. Rod generally has a driver pick him up from the airport, but I’m meeting him because we can’t wait to see each other. Right from the start of our 26 years together, we’ve spent time apart.”

Reflecting on the first year of their relationship, Penny said she had been studying photography in the UK while Rod was based in the US, meaning much of their time together was spent communicating through a screen.

“We’d spend hours and hours on the phone talking about everything, including photography and paintings,” she revealed.

Sharing more about her husband away from the spotlight, she added: “Rod has a deeply, spiritual, sensitive and artistic side. That’s what he’s like underneath it all.

“That’s the real man. He can be quite demanding and he does require a lot of attention, but that’s fine because I’m good at giving it,” she added.

In the same interview, the Loose Women star said effort was key to their relationship, revealing the pair make sure to have regular date nights – whether that’s going to the theatre or enjoying “long romantic walks” together.

She also said the couple still “flirt with each other and make each other laugh” to keep the intimacy alive. “We don’t take each other for granted,” she added.

Penny is Rod’s third wife, following his marriages to Rachel Hunter and Alana Stewart.

Alongside the two sons he shares with Penny, Rod is also father to six other children – Sarah, Kimberly, Ruby, Renee, Sean and Liam.

Previously opening up about fatherhood, the Maggie May hitmaker admitted he has had to be “several different fathers” due to the large age gaps between his children.

His eldest daughter, Sarah Streeter, whom he shares with a former partner, is 62, while his youngest child with Penny is 14.

According to MailOnline, he added: “You really have to treat all of them as individuals with individual problems. As a dad, I’ve learned to listen and not blow my top.”