The family of Tom Brady's late throwing guru is still rooting for Patriots' quarterback

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — On Saturday, Olivia Martinez just finished up a text with Tom Brady when the phone rang.

The widow of Brady’s original throwing guru Tom Martinez — who worked with the Patriots’ quarterback from his early high school days through his first three Super Bowl titles before he passed away in 2012 — keeps in regular contact with the quarterback. They exchange texts on a regular basis, and communicated on Saturday, roughly 36 hours before Brady will step on the field against the Eagles in Super Bowl LII.

“During the season, I try to not take up too much of his time. But he always answers back so quickly,” Martinez said on Saturday morning. “Tommy told me he always thinks about him when he walks on the field. I know his spirit is in him every time he throws a football. He has kept the form he first learned way back when.

“They had a very special relationship.”

Martinez was the one professional constant in Brady’s life from his teenage years through his first three Super Bowl wins. The two first connected when Brady was a rattled high schooler struggling with mechanics. Over the years, the two maintained a close bond, with the quarterback leaning on Martinez and his wisdom on a consistent basis through his college career, and into the NFL. He gave Martinez the game ball from his first NFL win against the Colts in 2001, and would routinely fly him into to Foxborough throughout the year when he needed an occasional tuneup.

Martinez carved out a career as a legendary quarterback guru and high school coach in the Bay Area, and touched the lives of thousands of young athletes along the way. But in many ways, his relationship with Brady defined his career. Here's a story CBS Sports did on the Martinez-Brady relationship back in 2011.



“I remember the conversations my husband would have with Tom and Tom’s father about the importance of doing things correctly,” she recalled. “He would say, ‘The better your form is and the better you throw, the longer you’ll be able to play.’ I also remember him telling Tom that ‘If you do what I tell you to do, and you keep doing it religiously, you can play until you’re 45.’

“That was 15 years ago!”

But Martinez passed in 2012 after suffering a heart attack during dialysis on his 66th birthday. Brady moved on to work with Tom House, but he still kept his connection with the Martinez family, including maintaining regular check-ins with his widow and acknowledging Martinez and his influence on his career.

“Tom has such wonderful values. I feel such a sense of pride in that he’s turned out to so far exceed everyone’s expectations,” Martinez said. “I think he’s got such class, and I’m just so in awe of how he’s handled the adversity and the critics he’s had to face. He’s just so focused — I have no doubt that he won’t ever let that get to him. He can filter out the junk and stick to what’s important. I’m just in awe.”

Martinez will watch the game on Sunday with two of her late husband’s proteges, and they’ll be pulling for her husband’s most well-known pupil to bring home a sixth Super Bowl ring.

“He’s as good as he’s ever been,” Martinez said of Brady. “He’s so focused — I have no doubt he’ll do well.”