Seattle Times staff reporter Jayson Jenks recently caught up with a few of Marshawn Lynch's ex-teammates to see if they had any memorable stories about the former Seahawks running back, and the responses were incredible.
One story in particular stood out as it not only showcased Marshawn's good nature, but also his ridiculous sense of humor. Earl Lockette, father of Ricardo Lockette recalled the time his son was in the hospital after suffering a career-ending neck injury.
According to Jenks, here's what Riccardo and his father had to say about their stay in the hospital alongside Marshawn.
“He just told me, ‘Don’t be in here crying,’” Lockette said. “’Don’t be doing all that crying because Beast Mode don’t cry, and if you cry, I’m going to cry.’ I can visually picture that. I enjoyed that.”
“We were in there with Ricardo and everything was in a sad mode,” said Earl Lockette Sr., Ricardo’s dad. “A nurse comes up and says, ‘We don’t know much about football, Mr. Lockette, but there’s a guy outside who says he needs to be in here. He says he plays with Ricardo, and his name is Marshawn Lynch.’ I go to the lobby, and Marshawn has his bags. He said, ‘I knew it was more than what they told me when I saw him go down. I knew it was more severe than that and I could not leave him here.’
“And then on top of that, we didn’t know nothing about nothing. He asked us, ‘How long are you guys going to be here?’ We said, ‘We don’t know. Until he gets up and walks again, we’re not leaving.’ He said” ‘I’ve got you guys. You don’t have to worry about anything.’ When I say he meant that, he really did. He took care of us for a period of time to make sure we didn’t have to worry about getting places, transportation, anything. He did that.”
Lynch's generosity certainly helped the Lockette's cope with their tragic situation but it was Marshawn's humor and relentless joking that kept the mood in the hospital room light and completely uplifted everyone's spirits, including the male nurse who he kept calling Gaylord, a reference to Ben Stiller's character in Meet The Parents.
“There was a male nurse,” Earl Lockette Sr. said. “You remember the movie with the Fockers? Marshawn would call the male nurse that. I think it was Gaylord, right? He’d say, ‘Hey, Gaylord!’ He kept calling him that, and we didn’t know what he was talking about. He was like, ‘You know, Gaylord Focker!’ The male nurse was even laughing. He lifted everybody’s spirits. He made us forget the situation we were in. He would not leave until after Ricardo’s surgery, and we just thought it was beautiful for him to do that.”
Lynch's other former teammates, Doug Baldwin, Jon Ryan, Cliff Avril and more also shared some interesting stories about the legend of Beast Mode which you can check out here.
