With a Strong Hand to Guide Him : His Mother’s Disciplined Approach Has Helped CSUN’s Mario Hull Prevail Against Long Odds

Mario Hull knows about temptation. He learned about it at the Missionary Holy Baptist Church and lived with it in the Nickerson Gardens projects of South-Central Los Angeles.

Nickerson Gardens is patrolled by gangs notorious for violence and drug-dealing. From the time children reach elementary school, the call of the gangs is strong.

Hull, now a starting outside linebacker at Cal State Northridge, heard it. But he managed to resist--and not because of the police or the horror stories told from a jail cell by an older brother. This version of “Scared Straight” is brought to you by another source.

Emma Hull, Mario’s mother, grew up in the deep South. She was raised in Mississippi by a grandmother who gave this caution when it came time for Emma to begin raising her own family:

“Spare the rod and spoil the child.”

Emma Hull never spoiled any of her seven children, the youngest of whom is Mario. She raised them herself, using the $678 the county gave her each month. Her husband left when Mario was 3.

“I did my best,” Emma Hull said. “I always looked at it like this--the Lord gave them to me. It was for me to keep them straight. There was nobody but me and them.”

And, of course, the enforcer--call it a rod, switch or whip.

Most of the time, Mario recalls with a trace of a grimace, “my mom and that rod would straighten us out real quick.”

The only time the threat of the rod failed to keep Mario in line, a street-smart teacher and a gang-banger’s handgun did.

The teacher, Mr. Hashim at what used to be No. 11 School, tried to talk the Hull family into busing Mario out of his neighborhood to attend junior high school in a safer location.

Mario resisted. He wanted to attend Markham Intermediate School, near his home. Then, while returning from summer school one day, Hull was chased by a youth with a gun.

“That changed my mind real quick,” Hull said. “I was in a gang about a month. I was lucky.”

From that day on, Hull took his former teacher’s advice. “Getting away was the best thing I could do,” he said. “The gang problem makes it hard even if you’re an athlete. You can practice after school, but then you got to walk home.”

Said Emma: “After that, I knew I’d have no more problems with Mario getting up at 5:30 and being out there at that bus stop.”

The distance from the Hulls’ home near 104th Street and Compton Boulevard to the bus stop at the intersection of Avalon Boulevard and Imperial Highway is just short of a mile. Emma was with her son every step of the way.

“I thought if he was willing to go out there and take a chance, then his momma ought to be behind him,” she said.

Hull went on to attend Cleveland High in Reseda, where he played football for Steve Landress.

Landress, who previously coached in the inner city, vividly recalls meeting Emma Hull for the first time.

“She told me not to spare the rod,” Landress said. “She said, ‘Hey, coach, whatever it takes. Just take a baseball bat and do what you got to do.’ ”

But the Mario Hull that Landress came to know was somewhat quiet and unassertive--to a point.

Landress claims to have seen Hull fight twice. Neither match lasted very long.

Landress, who called Hull “Cobra” because of his quick-strike capabilities, says Hull could be the world heavyweight champion should he ever seriously take up boxing.

For now, football seems to be sufficing rather well. Hull, a junior transfer from Santa Monica College, starts at outside linebacker for Northridge and he leads the Matadors in turnovers with five--four interceptions and a fumble recovery.

Until this season Hull, 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, played most often in the defensive secondary. At Cleveland he was a safety, but even then he was compared to Lawrence Taylor, an All-Pro linebacker for the New York Giants.

Landress played Hull at linebacker for one game--Cleveland’s 1987 City Section playoff game against heavily favored Banning. Landress designed a special defense--named “Cobra” in honor of Hull--in an effort to slow down Banning’s vaunted running game.

Hull was given one assignment: Get the ball. He responded with 25 unassisted tackles as Cleveland scored a 17-14 upset.

“He’d drop a guy and stand straight up and lift that big arm of his to the sky and the stands would go nuts,” Landress recalls. “It sent chills down my back.”

It also sent major-college recruiters into a frenzy, but they came away disappointed. Hull didn’t meet university academic requirements.

So Hull became a two-year starter at Santa Monica, but again fell short in the classroom. Because he did not earn an associate of arts degree, Hull was unable to accept a Division I scholarship after last season.

However, because Northridge is still Division II in football, Hull was accepted there without a degree.

Coach Bob Burt said Hull was one of Northridge’s top recruits, even though they planned on switching his position.

“You have to be a very rangy athlete, quick, yet big enough to handle things a big guy has to handle,” Burt said.

Hull has stepped into the void left by Daved Benefield, an All-Western Football Conference linebacker who completed his eligibility last season.

Through five games, Hull has been in on 22 tackles--including one sack--and he has returned one interception for a touchdown.

Still, he says he’d give all of it up today should his mother need him.

“I love football, but my mom, she’s the sunshine of my life,” Hull said. “I’d give up this and anything else to take care of her. She was always there for me. I’ll be there for her.”