BERKELEY — There's no doubting how Marshawn Lynch feels about his mother. Just look at his broad, muscular back. Tattooed there, shoulder blade to shoulder blade, is the acknowledgment, "Mama's Boy." The biggest influence on Lynch the son isn't his becoming an All-America or Cal's first Heisman Trophy winner, or even his own new Web site. It's his mom, Delisa Lynch, the stabilizing force in his life. "She's his biggest fan, and he's her biggest fan," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said of this special relationship. Lynch, a junior running back for the Golden Bears, is on the cusp of stardom. After being named MVP of last year's Las Vegas Bowl, he said he would give his trophy to his mom, along with all his other honors.
After a recent workout at Memorial Stadium, he spoke of what his mother means to him.
"The world," he said. "She's been there from the start. She's still here now. Ain't going nowhere without notice. Trying to get her out of my hair." Lynch shook his dreadlocks and started laughing. "I'm gonna cut it," Delisa warned, making a mock threat while sitting proudly at her son's side, wearing his No.10 Cal jersey. Life isn't always easy for a single mother. Marshawn is one of four children raised by Delisa. David, 26, is the oldest, then Marshawn, 20, a daughter, Marreesha, 17, and baby brother, Davonte, 13, or "Boo-Boo." But there is only one voice, and one message.
"My whole thing with them is just take care of your brothers and your sister," Delisa said. "Look after one another, and put God first in your life. And they've all done that." There has been no adult male figure to guide the household. "No, just mama," Marshawn said firmly. "Marshawn calls me on Father's Day and says, 'Happy Father's Day,'" Delisa said. "We didn't ask for it to be that way, but God just made us stronger." Marshawn had a spectacular career at Oakland Tech followed up by his scoring 18 touchdowns and rushing for 7.02 yards per carry in two abbreviated seasons at Cal. That isn't what makes mom the proudest. "It's keeping that grade-point average really good," she said of her son, who has maintained a B average at Cal.
Marshawn has stayed out of trouble partly because he knows there's an iron hand waiting at home. "My kids know I'm tough," Delisa said. "Marshawn knows." "It ain't no love tap," Marshawn said. "She's real rough." Sunday mornings in the Lynch home, the four children used to move all the furniture in the living room and then proceeded to "rumble," in Marshawn's words. And Delisa would join in the rough-housing. "Yeah, I like to rumble," she said.
The 5-foot-11, 223-pound Lynch has been named a first-team All-America by three preseason publications. The Sporting News picked him as the second-best running back in the country behind Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson, while Sports Illustrated.com rates him as the eighth-best overall player. Has Mama Lynch, as Delisa is known to all of Marshawn's friends, had to caution her son about keeping his helmet size the same? "I don't need to," she said. "I know he stays grounded. He knows how to handle it pretty good." Cal teammates respect Marshawn because he has very little ego. He's quick to deflect praise, especially toward the offensive line, and it's not to make himself look good. It's genuine, and it happens all the time.
"That's personally how I feel," he said. "Without the O-line, I wouldn't be able to get a push."
But once Lynch gets through a hole, amazing things unfold. He has brutal strength and a determined mind, refusing to go down easily. He breaks countless tackles, and if he gets in the open, there's no catching him with his blazing speed. He looks like a young Walter Payton.
That's why Cal coaches and Mama Lynch, pacing about the stadium as she does on Saturdays, hold their collective breath as Marshawn tries to break free from a gang tackle, fearing a serious knee injury. But that's nothing to what Mama Lynch went through in June when Marshawn, on the same day Marreesha graduated from Oakland Tech, was shot at while riding around with friends near the Tech campus. There were several bullet holes in the car. Marshawn wasn't the driver, and Oakland Police believe that he wasn't a target.
"It just broke my heart," Delisa said of that incident. "Words can't describe it. I thanked God that nothing happened to him. Oakland isn't the safest place." Violence has no age limit in Oakland, what with kids shooting at kids, a societal problem that makes even the violence inside a football stadium seem tame by comparison. "That could have happened anywhere," Marshawn said. "That could have happened outside the stadium. I just put that situation in God's hand, and I came out of it." Marshawn thinks about the team first, and he has bigger plans in his mind for Cal than he does for himself. "I hear in the summer workouts a lot of energy," he said. "We're focused on the big picture as far as getting to a national (BCS) game. As we broke one day, E-Rob (offensive guard Erik Robertson) said, 'Win together, work together.' That sounded good to me. I told E-Rob he should go to coach Tedford to get that on our shirts going into camp (Sunday). " And heading into the fall, Marshawn, who's normally reluctant about giving interviews, has a Web site — http://www.Marshawn10.com — that Cal set up, including a "Meet Marshawn" question-and-answer session. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do with that," he said. "I've opened up, understanding why they want to talk to me. But I still see me as me, 40th and Market." And with his mother still luminous as his guiding light.
"I look back on his Pop Warner days," Delisa said. "I always told him he can do whatever he wants to do with hard work and dedication, and by staying focused and humble."
There's a possibility this could be Lynch's last season at Cal. More juniors are opting for the NFL, and Lynch saw how Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers, then a junior, became a first-round draft pick in 2005. "I'd rather not talk about it," Lynch said. "I've got the season on my mind."
"Marshawn's very mature," his mom said. "I let him make all his decisions." Mama's boy has been trained very well.
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