The rookie running back arrived in town with a decorated resume and the desire to fulfill a longtime dream.
Laurence Maroney remembers saying it as early as his elementary school years. One day, if everything unfolded as he hoped, he would buy his mother her dream house.
He saw how his mom, a single parent, worked seven days a week, yet still found time to drive him to practices, and hardly ever missed a game. He might not have had name-brand clothes, but that was secondary to the love and support he received from his mother, Terri Terrell.
So Maroney dreamed big, and modeled his approach after what he witnessed each day in St. Louis.
“Seeing her gave me more motivation to work that much harder,” said the 21-year-old running back, who is coming off a dazzling 15-carry, 125-yard, two-touchdown performance in the Patriots’ 38-13 victory at Cincinnati on Sunday. “I felt like my mother was putting in all that effort, so the least I could do is repay the favor by putting in my full effort in whatever I did to give back.
“I knew football was in my heart and I was going to try to make it one way or the other, and if I were ever to make it, I would take care of her, for taking care of me.”
Not long after Maroney was selected in the first round of April’s NFL draft, the plans were put into motion. At first, he and his mother looked at existing homes, then he did something he has become known for on the football field: He quickly changed direction and never looked back.
At the same time Maroney was building the foundation for what he hopes is a long, successful NFL career in New England, the foundation was poured for a 6,500-square-foot home on a 1-acre lot in St. Louis.
A big house was imperative, but not necessarily to be showy. Maroney has eight aunts, one uncle, and a healthy number of cousins, too, so the new home would be a place where they could get together. And there are few things Maroney values more than family and friendship.
“Laurence is loyal to no end,” Terrell said. “If you’re his friend, you’re his friend forever.”
Today, Maroney’s family stays by his side every step of the way. His mother has retired as a corporate trainer and now serves as his business manager, splitting time between St. Louis and New England. His 33-year-old brother, Willie, lives with him, while his sister, 30-year-old Stephannie, remains a rock of support to whom he is indebted for helping him through rough patches at the University of Minnesota.
Terrell says she and her son are similar in that, “It doesn’t take us long to tell if people are for real or not. With most people, we either hit it off right away, or it usually doesn’t happen.”
Perhaps that’s why Maroney arrived in New England with plenty of anxiety. He was worried about first impressions.
The first player Maroney met with his new team was running back Kevin Faulk, who was working out in the team’s weight room. Maroney was floored by Faulk’s approach. “He just told me that if I needed anything, to let me know,” he recalled. “I remember thinking, `Dang, they’re pretty nice up here.'”
But Maroney was still worried about how he would be accepted by the team’s top running back, Corey Dillon, who spent the bulk of the off-season working out in California.
“Coming in as a rookie, you hear so many things,” Maroney said. “How the running backs will treat you now because this is a job and these guys are trying to support and feed their families. . . . I wasn’t coming here to take away anyone’s shine, or replace anybody.
“Then Corey got up here and he said the same thing that [Faulk] did. And ever since Day One, we’ve been buddy-buddy. Everyone tries to say Corey has an arrogant attitude, that he acts a certain way, but deep down inside, if you really get to know the guy, he’s the coolest dude I’ve ever met. He’s doing everything in his power to help me learn and help me better myself.”
It marked the second time that Maroney feared the worst, only to realize that things couldn’t have worked out better. At Minnesota, he was paired with Marion Barber (now with the Dallas Cowboys) as part of a running back tandem.
“Everybody would say, `You and Marion aren’t going to be friends, you won’t get along because he’ll think you’re trying to take his spot,'” Maroney said. “But once I got there, it was a lot different. We became the best of friends and we still talk to this day.”
Above all, he’s grateful that his NFL salary (five years, $8.735 million) has helped him achieve his longtime goal: getting his mother her dream home.
“It’s a great feeling when you can take care of her,” he said. “She’s doing all the things she wanted to but never could because she was working so many hours per day, seven days a week. Just seeing that smile on her face, you can tell she’s so much happier in life right now. I always told myself that I’d take care of my mother first.”
