For most kids, learning to play football with their fathers means an occasional game of catch Sunday afternoons. For wideout Martin Bayless, it meant something entirely different.
Bayless’ father, Martin Bayless Sr., played for five different teams during his 13-year NFL career as a safety. The elder Bayless exposed his son to aspects of the game rarely seen, including board games with a four-time Super Bowl champion quarterback.
“One time, I actually played checkers with Joe Montana,” Bayless Jr. said. “I don’t know if I won or lost.”
Regardless of whether he out-maneuvered Montana, one thing was certain – having family ties within the game gave Bayless an advantage during the recruiting process and the transition to college.
“Their families get it a little bit,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “They understand the process, they’ve been through it once before. They understand the expectations when they get to this level. You know, it’s not Pop Warner football.”
The redshirt freshman’s football background extends beyond his father. Two of his uncles, Gerald Bayless and John Thomas, also played in the NFL. The football family even includes a name that will forever be etched in college football history: Charles Woodson, who won the Heisman trophy at the University of Michigan in 1997, is Bayless’ cousin.
When Bayless Sr. coached special teams for the Oakland Raiders in 2004-05, he gave his son the opportunity to learn from Woodson, one of college football’s all-time greats. “I went up to training camp, we hung out and he showed me some tips,” Bayless said.
But Bayless is not the only Northwestern player with strong bloodlines in the game. Pat Dunsmore, father of NU superback Drake, played for the Chicago Bears in 1983-84 and caught a touchdown pass from Walter Payton in the 1984 playoffs. Nick Adamle’s family is full of football history. Adamle’s uncle, Mike, was an All-American fullback at NU in 1970.
His grandfather Tony was an All-Pro for the Cleveland Browns in 1951 and his father Mark played at Purdue.
Hunter Bates’ father, Bill, played safety at the University of Tennessee and spent 15 years with the Dallas Cowboys. He was a Pro-Bowler in 1984 and played on three Super Bowl-winning teams in the 1990s. Like Bayless, Bates was brought up on football.
“I’ve been around football since I was very young, just being little Bates running around with the Cowboys,” Bates said. “I was throwing the ball around with Troy (Aikman) when I was young, so it’s been fun. It’s been a part of my life since I was born.”
Bates spent much of his youth in NFL locker rooms and on the sidelines during practice, eventually making trips to Cowboys training camp with his dad. Over the years, Bates gained invaluable insight into professional and collegiate football that few others have the opportunity to experience.
“It’s serious business,” Fitzgerald said. “Typically that group of young men understands that and have a little bit better of an attitude.”
Although Bates and Bayless may be measured against the play of family members before them, both said there was little pushing from their fathers to play college football.
“There was some pressure from people, just kind of teasing me to go to a big school, but my dad followed me and helped me,” Bayless said. “He just gave me the head’s up on why to go here.”
Bates’ father didn’t push his son either. Instead, he gave advice about particular schools during the recruiting process.
“He was very supportive,” Bates said. “He wanted us to be able to be at the highest level that we could play at and be at a great institution for the future.”
Bates and Bayless joined the Wildcats in 2008, ushering in a new generation of big-time football for their respective families. But football will always be a father-son game for both players. Even with the board games, having a game of catch with Hall of Fame quarterbacks, trips to training camps and tips from Heisman winners, both learned the basics of the game the same way everyone else does.
“We played catch in the backyard,” Bayless [email protected]
