Laurence Maroney, former New England Patriots running back, talks about his three 1,000-yard seasons at Minnesota, his first-round draft pick, and playing in the Patriots' undefeated 2007 season. He also founded LM39, a nonprofit focused on youth mental and physical development.
Questions this video answers
2006
2023
Normandy High School (St. Louis area)
He rushed for over 1,000 yards in each of his first three seasons at the University of Minnesota.
He was drafted in the first round by the New England Patriots and played a role in their undefeated 2007 season.
Chapters
The only person that's going to stop you is you. So I tell my kids that, hey, we can be whatever you want to be. I'm talking about the whole place erupts. And I think once I actually heard it on the tv, that's when realization kicked in. Like, wow, it's happening.
People's true colors do come out. And it's hard. It's a hard thing, you know, I think. And if you have big heart, you really can get taken advantage of and.
Really know what to do with. With the money. When I got it. So why they taking so much money? And you just watch how people change when it comes to big money. And I ain't, you know, I always been a person that I never wanted the money to change. Me not saying, oh, I'm me because of sports, but in a sense, I am me because of sports. And so when it was gone, it's like, who am I? People come from nothing. Get the world, lose it all and get it back. Oh, so.
Lawrence Moroney played for the University of Minnesota. He rushed for over a thousand yards his first three seasons, got trapped in the first round by the New England Patriots, played a huge role in their undefeated 2007 season. And he's the founder of LM39, a nonprofit organization he started in 2015. I think it was.
No, 2006.
2006. You started that?
Wow. Yeah, so I started it the same year I got a drafted and then did. I think we went all the way into 2012 with my events that I was doing. And then, you know, re. Then it fell off because I had went through my little issues and re. Established it back in this year of 23.
Okay, all right, cool. And that's. The organization provides support purposes to help under, underprivileged kids. Help them, it says. I looked on your website, mentally, physically, on and off the field. So you're just working with kids in your hometown and you're in St. Louis right now?
Yes, sir.
All right, cool, cool.
Good.
So. All right, well, I got a lot of questions for you, my man, so.
Hopefully I got some good answers for you.
All right, we're gonna see. Right, so you started off at Normandy High School, right?
Yes.
And you played more than one sport?
Yeah, so I, you know. You know, when we, you know, growing up, you. You. You watch Jerry Rice, some of the greats. And one thing that always stuck with me, that Jerry Rice said that as long as you in shape, you never have to get in shape. And so I did every sport because I never Wanted to get out of shape. And so I did football, basketball, track, all year round to stay in condition so I didn't have to have to get into conditioning.
I hear that. So the success you have in all those sports was football, obviously your primary sport.
If I tell you the truth, baseball was technically my best primary sport. Right. I just think at that time football had my heart. Right. And so I was. Football was a learned sport for me. And that's why I be so blessed and be so proud of it because if you wouldn't believe, I was never a big kid. I played offensive line and defensive line and little league and I was one even big. And so I never even played running back until my freshman year in high school. And it was probably out of a 10 game season, it was probably the sixth game of the season when they finally decided to put me at running back. And so for me, football was always a learned sport. But naturally from little league I was just great at baseball. Wow. And so once I got to high school, I went out for my baseball team and that didn't work out. And then I went to track in which is. It kind of sucks because you put two great sports in the same seasons and make a person have to pick and choose. And so it's like I knew I wanted to play football even though I knew baseball was my best primary sport. And so I did track because I knew track was going help me be a better football player. So that's how it was. But yeah, baseball was really my best sport.
Wow. That's crazy. Who had the biggest influence you influence on your life when you were younger?
My mother. She was always my biggest fan, biggest supporter, my inspiration of just watching her work tirelessly every day to provide for me and still coming home, taking me all over the city from this practice to that practice, showing up to every game, not missing a game of practice, and really just watching her raise me and raise my brothers and sisters, it just gave me the motivation to help try to change our situation.
What would you say is probably one of the best things you learned from your mom that you carry with you today?
Oh yeah, that's the easiest. And I tell and I tell my kids. And the one thing that she always told me, the only person that's going to stop you is you. And I live by them words. And I knew I wasn't gonna let nothing or nobody stop me. And if I wasn't gonna become, if I wasn't gonna become successful, it wasn't gonna be because somebody else stood in my way. It was because I stopped myself. And so I tell my kids that, hey, we can be whatever we want to be and only you gonna stop it if. If. That's. If it ain't gonna happen. So she always told me that and I live by it. Died by it.
Yeah, I mean, I always say, you know, we're our own worst enemy. Right. So, you know, we put steel ourselves and. Yeah, no doubt. So. And what would you say, who would you say kind of moving through your career, who would you say has been an influential, you know, maybe someone that you looked up to, whether it be someone on the team or coach or like, who really had an impact on you, you know, your growth as you started to get older.
That's a great question. So, you know, most times it be always a coach. I didn't really have like my coaches were good for, for, for the reasons there was good at. I think for me it was just my family and me and myself, just me wanting to change my situation. You know, I, I see what our situation is and I, and I just wanted more from life. And so I held myself at a higher standard because I wanted more. I didn't, I just didn't want the normal life that everybody was living that I think in my future because I'm watching all my family's future and it's like, no, I want to do something different. So for the driving force was really just me and me and my family and just wanted to just have something better and more.
What were you trying to change? What was so tough?
The upbringing. Like we, you know, I'm not saying we was poor at all. I'm not pulling that story. Like we was poor, but we didn't, we didn't have the best housing or the best financial backing. You know, I didn't have all the good name brands and all the things, but I had all the necessities that I needed to survive as a kid. And so it just, I just wanted more. You know, we grew up in a 800 square foot home, two bedroom, one bath, me and my sister at one point and then me and my brother at another point. So it was just always. I just wanted better. I just wanted more. Like, you know, I wasn't content.
You go to college, you absolutely crush it at Minnesota. And three years in, you're like, I'm out. I can go to the NFL. I mean, here's payday. I mean, like, I think about today with the nil kids are getting paid.
Oh my God, don't, please don't get me started on that I listen, I want, I won't back pay.
Like I know, like, you know, I won't retroactively. It's tough, you know, like I, I'm involved at Ohio State with some of the teams and it's unbelievable how much it's changed everything. And I think about the kids, the guys who didn't get that opportunity, right. And it's sad, it really is sad. And I could see why. And again, maybe you could tell us and you can share a little bit about your decision. Was it a no brainer for you? Like, I mean you got drafted in the first round, right? So like you, you knew you could go.
I'm be honest with you, I was scared. So really, honestly, it wasn't even thought on my mind after my, after my junior year. Right. It was more so a factors throughout the season. Like me and my head coach, Glenn Mason, we're good. But you know, it was just a lot of things that was, I can see and the people that was on the team can see. It was to where it made me question about coming back from my senior year because a lot of things he was doing, it was like the, to the public eye, you wouldn't see it. You was like, oh, it's a great relationship there. But he was doing little things to where it was like, I have an option to come back and he's really playing me without playing me right now. So what's going to happen when this is my senior? What is he going to do? And it was just more so it was a lot of that that really helped make my decision. It wasn't even about the money because it was like, I love college and I was getting so much love in college and long as I was on campus, so much stuff was free, you know what I'm saying? A lot of people around because of the great things I was doing, they was real big supporters. So it was like at that point I didn't even need money in college, you know, so I wasn't in the rush to go into the real world.
Do you go out and get an agent? Do people start coming at you? How does that work?
Yeah, so, you know, for me it works different for everybody. But I, I think I had a nice little name for myself, built a nice brand for myself. And you, you know, you just start seeing agents pop up at games.
