Raines Hopes to Lead Marine Raiders to Another Championship
October 9, 2014 - X-League (X-League)
Florida Marine Raiders News Release
You might think that when you grow up a multi-sport athlete with an uncle who is a seven-time Major League All-Star, a National League batting champion and a four-time stolen base champion, that person may be your biggest influence when it comes to sports. But for Florida Marine Raiders running back Levi Raines, it goes much deeper than that.
"Everyone knows my uncle," said Raines, speaking of former Montreal Expos star Tim Raines. "I definitely come from a baseball family. But growing up I was primarily a basketball player. I didn't start in football until middle school."
It was actually his mother, Tawana Byrd, and sister, Tenishia Eason, who have impacted his life the most - both on and off the field.
"Personally, my mom has had the biggest influence on my life. She raised me and two older sisters on her own while working three jobs until I was in high school," he said. "In sports, it was Tenishia. She was a basketball star at Seminole High School (Sanford, FL), and she always kept after me."
He also had quite a bit of admiration for a couple of multi-sport stars when he was younger.
"I was crazy about Bo Jackson. I played the video games, watched his highlights, and went into the yard to try and emulate him," said Raines. "Jackson was one and Deion Sanders was the other. I watched them play and decided that my game was if I didn't get dirty then I played a good game. If you don't get tackled, you played a good game and you can stay clean."
Standing at just over 5'10", the 32-year-old Raines had a huge 2013-2014 season in the X-League. In addition to the thrill of just winning the X-League Championship over the St. Louis Attack, Raines was the X-Bowl MVP, was an All X-League running back, and the X-League running back of the year. In the X-Bowl, he ran for 148 yards and two touchdowns.
That success was nothing new for Raines, who won three state weight lifting championships in the 181-190 pound weight class while attending Airport High School in South Carolina while dominating on the gridiron as well.
"I played basketball until I was a sophomore, but the football team's offensive line coach at the time asked me to join the weight lifting team. I had nothing else to do at the time, so I did - and I started winning," he said. "It wasn't something I set out to do, I just tried it and qualified and it went from there. That kind of killed my jump shot, so that was it for basketball."
His career in prep football, meanwhile, is legendary. Listed by Rivals.com as one of the top 150 prep football players of all-time in South Carolina, Raines says success came quickly for him at Airport High School.
"I started as our quarterback my freshman year and got moved to varsity halfway through the season," he said. "I had over 1,500 combined yards as a sophomore, 1,500 yards rushing and 1,200 yards passing as a junior, and almost 2,300 combined yards again as a senior."
Those numbers were not only noticed by Rivals.com, but Raines also earned All-Area, All-Region and All-State honors. With championships in high school and in the X-League, it comes as no surprise that sandwiched in between was some success at the college level.
"My greatest sports memory was actually at Georgia Military College where we won the National Junior College Championship in the 2001-2002 season," said Raines. "That's my top accomplishment - a National Championship ring."
That doesn't mean, though, that the X-Bowl wasn't an absolute thrill.
"In three years of playing indoor football, that was my first trip to the championship," he said. "I was pretty hyped - but had no idea what to expect. When we came out of that locker room and saw all of those fans, I got butterflies. That was the biggest crowd I had seen all year."
Those butterflies didn't stop him from running wild against the Attack, though. "He was a dominant force all season, not just in the X-Bowl," said Attack owner Andrew Haines. "The guy is just a beast. We knew if we were going to have a chance we had to contain him. We didn't. We couldn't."
Marine Raiders Michael Mink had to agree. "He's a work horse. I know I can count on him every game," said Mink. "We built our offense around him and gave him the opportunity to do what he does best."
The 2014-2015 X-League season is still months away from starting, but Raines says he knows the Marine Raiders can once again compete for the X-League title.
"I know it's very hard to repeat, he said. "But I think we have a good chance with the players we have coming back and the new guys we're adding to the group."
For more information on the X-League, visit http://www.xleaguefootball.com/ or visit the X-League Facebook page at www.facebook.com/xleaguefootball.
X-League Stories from October 9, 2014
- Raines Hopes to Lead Marine Raiders to Another Championship - Florida Marine Raiders
- Mink Reviews X-League Meetings - X-League
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