GREEN BAY — Marcos Martinez could feel his emotions starting to get the best of him. And it wasn’t because of the new football cleats he was wearing.

For as much as he was loving the new Nikes he’d just been given — by none other than Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love — that wasn’t it. Nor was it the Love pass that the Green Bay Southwest junior linebacker had intercepted during a little pre-practice photo-op pitch-and-catch.

Although, picking off his idol was very cool.

“I talked to him after, and told him never to do it again,” Love said with a laugh. “It was a great play by him.”

But for Martinez, the fact that Love was there — at his school, with his team — to launch the second year of his “10VE for CLEATS” campaign, which donates cleats to youth and high-school sports teams in Wisconsin and his native California, was even more overwhelming than the play he’d made.

“It’s a huge honor. I’ve been watching the Packers ever since I was little,” Martinez explained. “I mean, he’s someone to look up to, and I’m so grateful for him to be here. I’m grateful for my whole team. And …”

That’s when Martinez felt the lump in his throat.

“Let’s go Southwest!” he shouted, signaling the end of the conversation.

The concept behind Love’s initiative is simple: For every touchdown he accounts for each season, a team gets new cleats as part of his partnership with U.S. Venture and Capture Sports Marketing.

Last season, in the first year of the program, Love threw 25 touchdown passes and ran for another, so 26 teams in Wisconsin received cleats, including Sun Prairie West High School in the Madison area.

During the Packers’ 2-1-1 start this season, Love has completed 69.7% of his passes for 1,000 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception for a 112.9 passer rating, the second-highest in the league entering Sunday’s games while the Packers are on their bye week.

More importantly, he’s on pace for 34 touchdown passes this season, which would bring his two-year total to 60 state teams getting cleats.

But here’s the thing for Love: There’s an old Nike commercial for Air Jordans — one that was popular long before Martinez was born — in which Michael Jordan and Spike Lee discuss the supposed magical powers of the basketball GOAT’s signature shoe. “It’s gotta be the shoes!” Lee’s character, Mars Blackmon, exclaims.

“Gotta be the shoes.” ~ Mars Blackmon pic.twitter.com/mgS9gxugen

— Jason Wilde (@jasonjwilde) October 5, 2025

And just as Jordan corrects his diminutive sidekick in the ad, when it comes to Love’s “Hands of 10ve” foundation, it’s not solely about the shoes for Love.

Growing up in Bakersfield, California, Love attended summer football camps put on by NFL quarterbacking brothers David and Derek Carr. And the reason he could identify with Martinez’s emotions was that he felt them himself being around the Carrs.

“Just remembering the impact they had on me, they were always a big inspiration for me and other kids from Bakersfield to make it out,” Love explained. “Just to see somebody make it to the highest level, knowing they used to be a kid like you in Bakersfield, I think that’s the coolest part 1759639571, being able to relate to these kids and give them hope and show them that I was once a high-school player like them — going to school, doing the same things they’re doing. And if they keep on the path and keep doing what they do, they can have the same opportunity.”

Love created his foundation with a three-pronged mission statement: To encourage kids to participate in sports; to bring awareness to mental health and suicide issues; and to continue his father’s work in uniting law enforcement with the community. Love’s dad, Orbin, was a sergeant with the Bakersfield Police Department who died by suicide in 2013, when Love was 14 years old. Love considered quitting football in the wake of his father’s death, but his mother, Anna, convinced him to stick it out for one more season.

He did, and even after the whirlwind football journey that came after — from earning a scholarship to Utah State, to being the Packers’ 2020 first-round draft pick, to spending three seasons as an understudy to four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers, to becoming the starting quarterback in 2023 — Love never forgot how close he was to none of it ever happening.

He also hasn’t forgotten the teammates whose parents struggled to scrape together enough money for new cleats each season.

“The reasoning behind it is, growing up, a big part of my life was sports and the bonds, the relationships, the lessons I learned being on sports teams,” Love said. “And I remember there’d be kids that their parents weren’t able to afford cleats or they were wearing hand-me-down cleats from their brothers or sisters or cousins — less than ideal circumstances.

“So to be able to give back and put every kid in a brand new pair of cleats going into their season, whatever that is — football, soccer, baseball, softball — it’s pretty cool. It’s just a small thing that can help keep kids in sports and just give them another reason to stick with it.”

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In the 2024 Milwaukee Press Club’s Excellence in Journalism Awards, “Back of House” won Bronze in the “Best Column” category.