Person of the Week: George Martin

Sept. 28, 2007 — -- George Martin pushed his body for 14 years on the football field, and now the Super Bowl champion is challenging himself with a cross-country walk for an important cause.

The former New York Giants defensive end hopes his celebrity will bring awareness to his 3,200 mile, four-month walk from New York to California to raise funds to help the heroes of Sept. 11, 2001.

"As people were running away from that disaster, there was a group of people actually running toward that disaster. And that to me showed true bravery, true courage. And as a result of that, they subjected themselves and their health … even their lives, to unknown hazards," Martin said.

Those hazards included the air around ground zero after the Twin Towers fell, and many of those people who ran into danger are now sick and need help. So Martin began the walk Sept. 16 to raise awareness of their plight and to help raise $10 million for their medical care.

The journey began on the New York side of the George Washington Bridge, and Martin plans to cross the Golden Gate Bridge some time in January.

"I think the vast majority of people think I'm nuts," Martin said. Others said it's his "midlife crisis," but if that's the case he hopes others find such a charitable way of going through their midlife crisis.

'I Don't Think of Myself as a Hero'

Before he started his cross-country trek, Martin trained for months in a local park, but that was a walk in the park compared to his NFL days.

"I would rather face this any day of the week than a Bill Parcel's training camp, I can tell you that," he said.

He's been walking for less than a month and plans a southern route through 15 states tracked with a GPS device that he will wear for the entire trip. (Click here to see where Martin is now.)

Martin has traveled 250 miles in 12 days and has already used six pairs of sneakers. He expects to wear out at least 100 before he's done and said once he gets out of the congested Northeast he hopes to walk at least 35 miles each day.

"I can't wait to get to a part of the country where I can ingest the solitude and I can kind of get some introspection and some reflection upon what I'm doing and stay focused on the reasons why I'm doing it," Martin said.

While he's looking forward to the solitude, he said meeting Americans is what he is most excited about on this journey.

"They come out very, very humbly and very proudly they shake your hand," Martin said. "They'll hand you a bottle of water or Gatorade or what ever it is, and they say God bless you, and they say it with such sincerity. It really touches your heart. "

And if some look to the sports champ as a hero, he would disagree. "I don't think of myself as a hero, because I am looked upon as a hero because I played a kid's game at a professional level," he said. "The people who I think are heroes are people who sacrificed … their lives."

For more information: www.ajourneyfor911.info