AdventHealth Tampa (3100 E. Fletcher Ave. at Bruce B. Downs Blvd.) got a special visit Friday from a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers star two days before the team kicked off the 2024 NFL season.
Super Bowl winner Martin GramĂĄtica stopped by to greet hundreds of doctors, nurses, and clinicians. The former Bucs kicker took time to sign autographs, take photos and show his appreciation for the hard work front-line health care workers do every day.
AdventHealth is the exclusive hospital of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and GramĂĄtica said he was happy â and honored â to represent the Bucs while greeting the AdventHealth Tampa team.
âIâm just here representing the Bucs to say âThank youâ to all of the men and women who sacrifice so much to take care of us when weâre not doing well.â
GramĂĄtica, who also is the VP of Business Development for Life Guard Imaging, said that it was just a âhappy coincidenceâ that he made his appearance at the hospitalâs Pepin Heart Institute. âLife Guard is just an imaging center,â he said. âThis is where you go to be taken care of when we find something wrong with you that needs to be addressed. People look up to football players, but these people are the real heroes.â
As for what he thinks about the Bucs â who open the season at this afternoon at 4:25 p.m. against the Washington Commanders at Raymond James Stadium â this year, when many so-called experts believe the team isnât playoff caliber, GramĂĄtica said, âI donât know about that. Iâm really excited about our chances. We had a really good year last year and when you bring guys like (quarterback) Baker (Mayfield) and (wide receiver) MIke (Evans) back, and add some young talent, you never know what can happen. Everyone starts the year 0-0 and every team is one injury away from not being good, so we just have to stay healthy and I think weâre gonna be good.â
