Editor’s note: The Browns open organized team activities (OTAs) today in Berea. Rookie tight end Martin Rucker will get plenty of practice time, as veterans Kellen Winslow and Steve Heiden recover from surgeries.

Martin Rucker is following in the large set of footprints left by his brother, Mike.
The choice makes sense. Martin’s 6-foot-5, 248-pound frame, athleticism and good hands make him ideally suited for a career in the NFL.
But according to his father of the same name, Martin — called T for his middle initial — could just as easily have followed dear old dad into the political arena.
“T knows how to work a room,” Missouri state representative Martin Rucker Sr. said by phone. “He’s been a great kid since word one. We’re a lot like each other. Only he’s a lot bigger than I am.”
Rucker, a tight end from Missouri, was a fourth-round pick of the Browns on April 27 after they traded next year’s third-round pick to move back into the fourth round. In interviews with local media since the draft, he’s been polite, articulate and confident. Those who know him say there’s a bundle of personality yet to shine through.
He’s been described as a prankster and jokester who once took a cousin on a spur-of-the-moment expedition to chase a tornado. He has an expansive wardrobe and sported a black-and-gold (Missouri colors) Mohawk.
“He’s a real outgoing guy. Real genuine. He has a great sense of humor,” Missouri tight ends coach Bruce Walker said by phone. “He’s just a great guy to be around. I absolutely love the guy.”
Despite the big personality, Rucker told a reporter during college he wanted to “be remembered as a normal guy,” and his family appears to do a good job of keeping each other grounded. Martin Sr. and LaVell have been married for 27 years.
“We have a pretty strong family unit,” Martin Sr. said. “I predict it will last another 27.
“We didn’t send ’em to church, we took ’em to church. We continue to have family togetherness. We know what it’s like to have support.”
For most families, sending a son to the NFL is an accomplishment that has no peer. The Ruckers aren’t most families.
Mike, 10 years older than Martin, spent nine years in the NFL before retiring last month. Martin Sr. is in the Missouri House of Representatives.
“My parents supported all of us equally, in everything that we did,” Martin Jr. said at the scouting combine. “If me and my brother were playing on the same Saturday, one would go to one game, the other would stay home and watch me play.
“It just rubbed off on us. So we’d go watch my dad speak on the House floor when he was first there, and any big events or things like that that we should be there for, we go support him.”
Rucker Sr. played junior college basketball at Central Wyoming College, didn’t graduate from college and has worked as a mechanic in a plant for 27 years. As vice president of the St. Joseph school board, he took a visit to the statehouse to lobby.
“Once I got there, it intrigued me,” he said. “The next thing you know I was running for the open seat.”
Rucker Sr. won and has been there four years. Rucker Jr. didn’t see it coming.
“I didn’t even know what a state representative did,” he said, adding he isn’t interested in a political career. “One day he came home and said, ‘I think I’m going to run for state rep.’ He’s done a lot of things in the community and I think that’s what helped my brother and my sister and my other brother and myself grow up with such respect for the communities we live in and the people we’re around. So it was a surprise but it really wasn’t.”
Rucker Jr.’s career choice was the culmination of a long journey. He was a prized recruit coming out of high school and picked Missouri over Nebraska, the alma mater of Mike.
Martin surpassed Kellen Winslow Sr. and became the all-time receiving leader for tight ends at Missouri. He was an All-American and projected as a first-day draft choice, but slipped to the Browns.
“The Cleveland Browns got a steal in the fourth round,” Walker said. “He’s going to be a good one. I think he’s hungry to prove himself.”
Just a week before the draft, defensive lineman Mike retired from the Carolina Panthers after nine years, including a Pro Bowl appearance in 2003.
“Most people don’t have the opportunity to have one NFL player,” Rucker Sr. said. “We’re blessed to have two.
“It’s pretty awesome actually. Life is good.”
Though neither of the Martins blamed Mike for retiring and depriving the family of having two Ruckers in the NFL — “It would’ve been selfish of us,” Martin Sr. said — both admitted to being disappointed the brothers didn’t get a chance to play together or against each other.
“It’s very disappointing,” said Martin Jr., who majored in hotel and restaurant management. “That was one of my dreams growing up as a little kid to get to play against him. At the same time, I respect his decision. He’s had a great career and he’s a great guy on and off the field.
“Him playing football is really what got me started in it. I just saw him out there doing something that looked fun, so I started playing it at a younger age.”
Mike thinks Martin will be just fine making the transition to the NFL.
“I’ve been around nine years, and I’ve seen competition. I’ve seen the best, and I’ve seen guys who are just there,” Mike told the St. Joseph News-Press. “(Martin’s) got the tools. He’s got the mind-set to do it. That’s the biggest part, the mind-set, and he’s got it. He’ll grow, get bigger and get more knowledge of the game.”
Martin said he’s already sought Mike’s advice about life in the NFL.
“A lot and there’s still more to come,” he said. “If questions come up, I can go to him and he’s been there before. He can tell me the exact thing to do.”
Martin has plenty of places to turn. His oldest brother, Bill, is in management, and his sister, Micah, earned her MBA. Even LaVell went back to college to get a degree in social work, and works for the school district.
“What’s real impressive is his mother,” Walker said. “She went back to college later in life.
“They are real solid people. They deserve a lot of credit for Martin’s success.”
Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.

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