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During his decade-long NFL career, Martin Gramatica punted for four different teams.
Gramatica last appeared in an NFL game in 2008, the second year of a two-year stint with the New Orleans Saints.
Now 49, Gramatica opened up about his past while sitting down with TMZ to discuss his memoir “Beyond The Uprights: The Intimate Memoir Of Martin Gramatica.”
Gramatica opens up about what he experienced during his childhood. Especially the strained relationship he had with his father.
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Martin Gramatica, retired kicker from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, watches the pregame ceremony during the game against San Francisco. 49ers on December 15, 2013 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. (Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images))
The Super Bowl winning football player described his father as “inappropriate.”
“I had an abusive father that I talked about,” Gramatica told the outlet.
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But he stressed that he does not speak or write about his past to seek sympathy.
“I want to make sure people don’t read the book and say, ‘Feel sorry for me’ because of everything I lived for It makes me a better person. And it made me a better father,” Gramatica said.
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Martin Gramatica runs out of the tunnel before a game against the Cleveland Browns at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. August 29 Nov 2015 (Kim Clements/USA Today Sports)
Gramatica said his father gave an example of a relationship he didn’t want to have with his own children.
“It made me realize what not to do with my children. I want to make sure that if anyone reads the book and knows that I was like, ‘I have to destroy this,’ and I wanted someone to realize it sooner than I did. I didn’t. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I had my first son, when Nico was born.”
Nico Gramatica is a reserve for the South Florida Bulls.
Martin Gramatica, kicker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, trails in the first quarter 24 yards on a 24-yard field goal, September 23, 2003, at Raymond James Field in City of Tampa, Florida (Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
Martin’s challenging relationship with his father led to a pact between Martin and his siblings.
“I love that child so much that you think ‘How can I do what my father did to me?’ That’s how I felt. I talked with my siblings and we made an agreement. We have to destroy this,” Martin said.
“We haven’t talked to my father at all. Because we don’t want that kind of abuse in our family. I have three children, my brother Santiago has two children. So we don’t want that to be with our children.’ That’s what the book is about.”
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Gramatica kicked for Kansas State before making the leap to the NFL in 1999. He spent the first six seasons of his NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winning a Super Bowl with the Bucs in 2002.
He finished his professional football career with a career field goal percentage of 76.4%.
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