He used to be their babysitter. Now, Saquon Barkley is on pace to break the NFL’s single-season rushing record.

When Maisey Hartman arrived at St. Joseph’s as a freshman last year, she decided to join a community service program. The teenager wasn’t from Philadelphia and wanted to meet new people while giving back to the area.

On her first day, she walked into a room full of students. An upperclassman asked everyone to share a fun fact. Hartman began to worry. Nothing immediately came to mind.

But then, the perfect detail suddenly emerged.

“Saquon Barkley was my babysitter,” Hartman said.

The students looked back at her with blank stares.

“What did you just say?” one of them asked.

“Saquon Barkley was my babysitter,” she responded. “That’s probably the only thing I can think of.”

Hartman’s classmates were astounded by her nonchalance. She didn’t talk about the potential Hall of Famer in exalting terms. She didn’t linger on the 1,312 yards he’d rushed for in 2022, his two Pro Bowl appearances, or the New York Giants franchise records he’d set.

She talked about him like she knew him — because she did.

Hartman, 19, grew up in Whitehall, Pa. Barkley lived in Coplay, which is about two miles away. She met him through her father, Bob Hartman, who is the longtime athletic director at Whitehall High School, which Barkley attended from 2011 to 2015.

They quickly became close. Bob Hartman saw a maturity in Barkley that was well beyond his years. For a player as gifted he was — Barkley amassed 3,646 rushing yards and 63 touchdowns at Whitehall — he didn’t act as if he had all the answers. When Hartman called the running back into his office, he often would say, “What did I do wrong?”

The answer usually was nothing. But Hartman liked that Barkley was humble enough to ask.

“He was a very inquisitive kid,” Hartman said. “More so than a normal high schooler.”

Their conversations weren’t always about football. Barkley would talk about his grades, the recruiting process, and life in general. It became clear to Hartman that he could trust him. So, in 2014, when he and his wife needed a backup babysitter, they asked a kid who one day would make NFL defenders look foolish.

Barkley said yes.

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“I knew he could use the extra money, and my kids liked Saquon,” Hartman said. “They looked up to him, and I knew they wouldn’t get out of line. He was responsible. So it was sort of an easy decision.”

From then on, Barkley began to fill in when the Hartmans' regular babysitter was unavailable. He babysat for Maisey and her older brother, Zack, about six times. They were young — Zack was in sixth grade and Maisey was in fourth — but they still have vivid memories from that era.

For Zack, who is 22 years old and a senior at Elon University, one memory stands out among the rest.

“I beat him in Madden [NFL],” he said. “I think the score was 31-28, or something like that. I remember he was the Browns, because Johnny Manziel had just gotten drafted. It was a close game, so it probably got intense. I can’t imagine he was too happy about losing to a 12-year-old. But it was fun.”

Zack made sure his family never forgot it. One time, he and his father were watching a Penn State game from home when they witnessed Barkley hurdle a player en route to a touchdown. The middle schooler was not impressed.

“I was like, ‘Zack, did you see what Saquon just did?’” Bob Hartman said. “Zack goes, ‘So what, Dad? I beat him in Madden.’ That was always his trump card on Say: That he beat him in Madden.”

Maisey was shy growing up and didn’t have much interest in football. But she liked that Barkley would talk to her while he played video games with her brother. Or he’d find other activities for them to do — like playing Jenga or Scrabble or watching a movie. It made her feel included.

“He was so nice and funny,” Maisey said. “He made sure I didn’t feel left out. He was really chill. He didn’t really say, ‘Make sure your teeth are brushed and you’re in bed at this specific time.’ He just made sure we were doing the right things.

“He wouldn’t just watch us. He would actually hang out with us. Sometimes babysitters can be super strict — you have to do this at a certain time, you have to do this. He would just be our friend.”

Barkley continued to be their friend. After he graduated from Whitehall in 2015, he stayed in touch with the Hartman family. He’d invite them to Penn State games and give them passes to see the locker room and the athletic facilities.

When he was a college freshman, he returned home one night for a high school football game. Students began to swarm him for autographs, but Maisey didn’t want to be a bother. So she quietly stood to the side.

Barkley noticed.

“Hey, Maisey,” he shouted with a grin. “You don’t have time to say hi to your babysitter?”

She ran over and gave him a big hug. They took a photo together on the field. A few years later, Barkley returned to Whitehall to see Bob and his friend, soccer player Kayla Cunningham, get inducted into the school’s hall of fame.

“We hadn’t seen him in a while,” Maisey said. “But he was like, ‘How are you guys doing? Are you doing good in school?’ He was just making sure we were OK. And that was really kind of him.

“It’s been great to see him because I get worried … not that I had a huge impact on his life, but maybe that he would forget about me. Whenever I tell people I know Saquon, they say, ‘Maisey, you really think he remembers you?’ And I used to say, ‘I don’t know.’ But he definitely remembers.”

Things got a little more complicated when Barkley signed a three-year deal with the Eagles in March. Maisey, who is an Eagles fan, was thrilled. Her brother and her father — who are Dallas Cowboys fans — felt conflicted.

“I was hoping he’d go to the Dolphins or something,” Zack said. “Now, I have to root for him, but against the Eagles. That’s the hard part about it. But he earned a lot of money, and all his hard work has paid off. And he deserves that more than anyone.”

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Added Bob: “I can watch the games and compartmentalize. I want him to be successful. I want him to do great things. And that obviously comes with the Eagles’ success.

“When he signed, I was like, ‘Hey, listen, I’m so proud of you. Wish you the best. You deserve everything you get, but don’t ever expect me to wear a green jersey.’ And he just laughed.”

The Hartmans try to go to a few of Barkley’s NFL games every year. They don’t always tell him when they’re there. Bob tries to respect the running back’s space. But regardless, they’re always paying attention to what he’s doing. And this year, they’re paying extra close attention.

Barkley is on the precipice of history. He has rushed for 1,499 yards through 12 games this year. He is on pace to break the NFL’s single-season rushing record of 2,105 set by Eric Dickerson of the Los Angeles Rams in 1984.

But that’s not what Bob is proudest of.

“Obviously, the things he does on the field are amazing,” Hartman said. “And I get these phone calls every time he does something crazy. But I’m just as proud of him as a father. He loves his two kids and treats them right. It’s not an easy job. But I’ve seen him do it very, very well. And that’s as good as any 255-yard game he has.”