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Vandebilt Catholic volunteer assistant baseball coach Jerry Martin works on the infield following a rain delay during a Swampland Baseball League game earlier this week. HOUMA -- Vandebilt Catholic assistant baseball coach Jerry Martin has always had a distinct love for sports.
Whether it was football, basketball, baseball, bowling, track, tennis or golf, Martin played it. Not only did he excel in those sports, but he always did it with a smile on his face.
Now at 72, Martin isn’t the young athlete he once was, but his passion for sports still remains strong.
<center><p><a href="http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20080629/ARTICLES/806290301/1032/SPORTS&title=Vandebilt_assistant_reflects_on_lifetime_of_sports_memories" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
By Chris Singleton
Houma Today
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He is a volunteer assistant baseball (pitching) and football (punters) coach at Vandebilt, where he has been a coach and contributor since 1975.
"For me, sports is a way of life," Martin said. "I love it so much. I love being around it. My life would be absolutely dull without it. I’ve had a lot of fun in my life, and that is because of sports."
GETTING STARTED
A native of Opelousas, Martin loved all sports, but baseball was his true passion, even though Opelousas High didn’t offer the sport until 1955, a year after he graduated.
Instead, he was a pitcher for Opelousas’ American Legion team -- Bordelon Ford.
In football, Martin played halfback, safety and punter.
In his senior season of 1953, he rushed for 1,303 yards and 35 touchdowns. He also set a single-season state record in scoring with 210 points, which broke the previous record set by Terrebonne High’s Bobby Kimball (142 points) in 1952.
Martin’s scoring record lasted 41 years, until Ascension Catholic’s Jermaine Wiggins topped it in 1994.
But Martin wasn’t disappointed about it.
"Records are meant to be broken, and my record held up for quite awhile," Martin said. "I just wish I had been at the game so I could shake his hand."
Martin also was a great punter. He averaged 42.2 yards per kick.
Martin, who was named to the Louisiana Press Association’s All-State Class A football team in 1953, played in the North-South all-star football game at LSU’s Tiger Stadium.
Also in high school, Martin was an outstanding track and field performer, participating in the 100-yard, 220-yard and 440-yard dashes, hop-step jump (now called the triple jump), broad jump (now called the long jump) and the 440-yard, 880-yard and mile relay teams.
He was named the most outstanding member of the track team.
When reflecting on his high school career, Martin said it was a great time because of the number of people he impacted.
"If you succeed in sports, you’ll do all right because, especially in high school," Martin said. "Your fellow classmates look up to you."
COLLEGE YEARS
After graduating from high school in 1954, Martin moved on to the Southwestern Louisiana Institute, which is now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
In his freshman year, he played on the football team.
In a game against Northwestern State, he scored a touchdown, but also suffered a major setback.
While playing safety, Martin was hit in the chin by a Northwestern player and cracked two vertebrae in Martin’s neck, which ended his football career.
"I wore a brace for six weeks after that," Martin said. "And during that time, I never missed an airplane that flew over the campus."
With football now out of the question, Martin turned his attention back to his first love -- baseball.
When the neck brace came off, he joined the SLI baseball team, which was then-coached by Ray E. Didier, who later moved on to LSU and Nicholls State.
As a pitcher, Martin went on to star at SLI for four years. The highlight of his career came in a game against McNeese State in 1958 when he struck out 18 batters, setting a Gulf States Conference and a SLI record, which still stands today.
"I can remember that game like it was yesterday," Martin said. "After I broke the record, all my teammates came up and just dog piled on me. It was quite a thrill. I can still close my eyes and see that pile."
Martin was named pitcher of the year of the GSC’s first-ever All-conference team in 1958.
He was drafted by the Kansas City (now Oakland) Athletics in 1959, but in spring training of his rookie season, Martin suffered a shoulder injury during warm-ups for practice, which he said ended his career.
Saying goodbye to playing baseball, Martin said, was the toughest thing he ever had to do.
"Baseball had become a part of my life," Martin said. "I believe, in my mind, that I had what it took to be a Major Leaguer, but that’s life. That was the turning point of my life."
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