Prized for His Aggression, Incognito Struggled to Stay in Bounds
Joel Auerbach/Getty Images
Richie Incognito was suspended by the Miami Dolphins, his third N.F.L. team in five years, amid allegations that he bullied Jonathan Martin.
By BILL PENNINGTON
Published: November 8, 2013 256 Comments
He was a timid Little Leaguer teased by opponents and belittled by teammates. He was mocked for being pudgy and gentler than the other boys, even though he was bigger than most of them.
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Dave Weaver/Associated Press
Richie Incognito was a star at Nebraska but left the university after on- and off-field problems.
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Then, urged by his father, the Little Leaguer fought back, pummeling one of his tormentors, blackening both his eyes.
The chunky boy grew up to become a menacing 320-pound N.F.L. lineman who was largely unknown outside football circles — until he was accused of being a big-league bully.
Richie Incognito was suspended by the Miami Dolphins, his third N.F.L. team in five years, amid allegations that he bullied Jonathan Martin, his teammate on the offensive line who left the team last week and has not returned. The news hardly came as a shock to most of those who had crossed paths with Incognito since his college years. A snarling, tattooed, 6-foot-3 dynamo, Incognito dominated opponents even as he stretched the boundaries of civil conduct during games and in everyday life.
But whatever trouble Incognito encountered — and there were numerous scrapes with the law, with coaches and with teammates from New York to Oregon — there was always a football team that wanted him. In a game in which intimidation rules, coaches mostly prized Incognito’s aggression and were willing to overlook his other problems.
But how did Incognito, plump-cheeked and boyish even in his college photo, transform into a man suspected of terrorizing his own teammate, referring to him publicly as the Big Weirdo? It would be simplistic to point to a childhood fistfight as a turning point, but people from Incognito’s past still remember the teasing he endured as a kid, and the response he delivered.
The fight “sent the right message to the town,” said Seth Bendian, who gave Richie private baseball instruction near his hometown, Bogota, N.J. “And Richie remained a nice, quiet kid.”
Incognito became more aggressive as his career developed until he landed in Miami, which had a locker room culture that seemed unchecked. Glimpses of that world that have emerged in recent days have ignited a national debate over the fuzzy area between camaraderie and bullying.
Martin’s lawyer said Thursday that Martin had endured more than a year of physical and verbal abuse, including a threat against his sister. He blamed Dolphins teammates, but did not single out Incognito. Martin, who reportedly has kept a menacing and racist voice mail from Incognito, is cooperating with an N.F.L. investigation. At the center of it all is Incognito, 30, who has spent virtually his entire adult life struggling to keep his behavior within accepted limits of propriety.
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