‘This is the big one’ for Marve

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This article was published 13/08/2015 (3949 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Robert Marve rolls up the sleeve on his left arm to reveal the scars. And right there on his left hand are still more remnants of the damage from that frightening night eight summers ago when a car accident almost ended his life.

There’s the scar across his palm and another where a knuckle once was at the base of his ring finger where two pins were inserted.

And the ensuing therapy?

“Worst pain I’ve ever been through in my career,” said Marve Wednesday, not long after the Winnipeg Blue Bombers announced he will start at quarterback for the Bombers Friday night against the Toronto Argonauts. “Every day there were lots of tears.

“Here’s the story: me and two other teammates were coming home to Tampa from Miami from summer workouts and were taking turns driving. I was driving for the first hour and a half, another buddy was going to drive for the next hour and we were going to rotate again.

“My buddy fell asleep at the wheel. They said we flipped seven or eight times going about 100 and hit a tree eight feet high. It was crazy. If I showed you the pictures on my phone, you wouldn’t believe we all made it out. And when I got out of the car my hand was stuck, my fingers were all dislocated… I still don’t have good feeling.

“It took a couple of months for me to have usage in my hand again.”

Now, just for the record, that’s NOT the time a doctor told Marve his football days were kaput. That would come later, following his third ACL surgery — all before he had even finished college.

So, yeah, Friday night — when Marve leads the Bombers out of the tunnel against the Argos in his first pro start — is more than a big deal for the 26-year-old Tampa product. The moment will represent a lot of things, including his perseverance, his dedication, his faith and all the miles he’s piled up getting here.

It’s hardly been all sunshine and rainbows since Marve was named Florida’s Mr. Football in 2006 while breaking high school records set by Tim Tebow. He started games at the University of Miami after sitting out a year recovering from the car accident, but was then suspended after being charged with two misdemeanors — he broke a car mirror then tried to elude police by running away — and then later transferred to Purdue after a falling out with the Hurricanes coach.

He sat out another year as part of the transfer, won the Boilermakers starting job and then suffered the trio of knee surgeries. There was a tryout with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2013, and now a potential rebirth here in Winnipeg.

And so whether this works — whether Marve can help the Bombers tread water while Drew Willy recovers — is a big part of this story. But there’s a lot at stake here for Marve, personally, as well.

“This isn’t just for me, this is for my family,” said Marve. “It’s been a roller-coaster for them, too. As happy as I can be… dark days are dark days and they’ve been through that with me.

‘My dad always talked about the ‘underdog’ feeling. It’s not that anybody owes you anything, it’s that you’ve got to go out and take it. It’s up to you’

— Robert Marve, named as starter for Friday’s game against the Argonauts

“All that stuff has given me the perspective that this is football, this is the good life. You hear of so many other athletes’ stories of what they’ve been through… that humbles you. Why do I look at everything like it’s fun and cool? Because everything is good. We’re healthy. We’re good. We’re making money. That’s just how I view it and that’s how I am with the team. I’m a nonchalant guy. I’ll give you everything I got to win the game and I won’t ask anything of anybody else I don’t ask of myself.”

Marve’s father Eugene, an 11-year NFL vet with Buffalo, Tampa Bay and San Diego, is flying to Winnipeg for the game. And Friday, it turns out, is also his birthday.

Yes, Bomber fans, this is a tale that just keeps giving and giving…

“My dad always talked about the ‘underdog’ feeling,” said Marve. “It’s not that anybody owes you anything, it’s that you’ve got to go out and take it. It’s up to you. He always told me, ‘Everyone has an excuse. Are you going to build through it? What are you going to do as a man?’ That’s how I feel about a lot of things, even outside of football.

“Friday night is not going to determine if I’m a good football player or a bad football player. There will be games after that. But right now, in this moment, this is the big one.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait