Before the 15th Super Bowl, Oakland Raiders linebacker Rod Martin had a foretelling of his arrival on the NFL's grand stage. Two people, one of them his sister Carolyn, told him of dreams that he would get an interception against the Philadelphia Eagles.
As a former 12th-round draft pick happy to be playing for a championship ring, Martin listened to the predictions and quietly dismissed them. Little did he know the dreams wouldn't come close to the real success he experienced in New Orleans' Superdome.
Martin, 26 at the time, had three interceptions and a fumble recovery in Oakland's 27-10 romp. Although he didn't get the game's Most Valuable Player award - an injustice at best - he did wind up on the cover of Sports Illustrated, three fingers pointing to the sky.
Of such heroics are legends born.
Half a lifetime later, Martin, 52, remains a prominent member of the unofficial Super Bowl heroes club. From Max McGee in January 1967 to Martin in January 1981 to the Indianapolis Colts' Kelvin Hayden on Sunday, the Super Bowl is filled with unheralded players who not only seized opportunity, but made the game their own.
McGee scored the very first Super Bowl touchdown in 1967 as a reserve Green Bay receiver who went in early when the Packers' Boyd Dowler got hurt. McGee's performance (seven catches, 138 yards, two TDs) was more remarkable because he spent the entire night before partying with two American Airlines stewardesses, not expecting to play.
Hayden delivered the coup de grace to the Chicago Bears on Sunday with a 56-yard touchdown on an interception return, sealing the Colts' 29-17 victory. Unlikely hero? He is a second-year cornerback who was on the field because veteran Nick Harper could no longer play on a sprained ankle. One more twist: Hayden is a Chicago native who grew up a Bears fan.
McGee's splash came near the end of his career. Hayden's is just starting. For Martin, it was a launching point.
"That," Martin said yesterday from Los Angeles, "was my best single day in football."
Martin's was a distinguished career. He played 12 seasons with the Raiders, won a second Super Bowl, twice went to the Pro Bowl and once was named All-Pro.
But short of dreams, there was no way to predict the impact the fourth-year pro would have in the title game. He had been drafted by the Raiders, been traded to and cut by the San Francisco 49ers his rookie year, and played his early years as an undersized inside linebacker for Oakland.
