July 29, 2005

By DAVE CAMPBELL
Insider Editor-in-Chief

Mike Singletary is famed among the Baylor faithful for cracking helmets and making tackles from sideline to sideline. Neal Jeffrey is famed for his leadership and his command in the huddle despite a speech impediment. Lawrence Elkins is famed as the school's first two-year consensus All-America football player. Botchey Koch is famed as both Baylor's and he Southwest Conference's first consensus All-America selection. Larry Isbell is famed as Baylor's first two-sport (football and baseball) All-American.

John Martin is about to become famous in an entirely different way.

He is about to become famous for his incredible show of gratitude and generosity.

"I haven't experienced anything like this in my 20 years in athletics," said Baylor director of athletics Ian McCaw in discussing what the 23-year-old Baylor graduate student from Stillwater, Okla., has just done.

Here is what the 6-0, 180-pound former Baylor wideout has just done: "I've bought an insurance policy on my life that is basically an endowment. You pay a lump sum up front and it compounds, and figuring I live to be 75 or 80, it will be worth close to a million dollars that will go to endow a scholarship at Baylor. I've already paid the sum, all the paper work has been completed, it's a done deal.

"And it's a great deal, really," Martin said.

Why would he do something like that, and at a time when he is still about six months from walking across the stage and receiving a Baylor master's degree in sports management?

"I was thinking of something I could do to give back to Baylor," Martin said. "Although my football career didn't go as I would have liked, I've had my education paid for with the scholarship Baylor gave me. That education is something that will stay with me the rest of my life, and I wanted to give something back."

To be sure, his football career at Baylor was blighted by a dark cloud from which he could never escape. That dark cloud included a broken collar bone suffered after the 2000 football opener against North Texas, then a bout with mononucleosis that wiped out the last eight games of the 2003 season for him, and finally in last season's opener against UAB in Birmingham came the final blow - a devastating collision that left him with a concussion.

"It was my fifth concussion, and I could have continued playing - there were people who told me I could continue playing - but I didn't want to risk it. There are a lot of other things I want to accomplish in my life," he said.

Thus ended the football career of a student-athlete who had a fine career at Stillwater High School and later impressed sideline observers at Baylor as a fearless and highly-promising "possession" receiver. He also was a star in the classroom, twice earning first-team academic All-Big 12 honors.

In 2001 he was Baylor's third-leading receiver and set a school freshman record for receptions (32) and receiving yards (345).

He had the talent, the willingness, the courage and the brains, but not much luck. A half century ago, another player who figured to become a major name in Baylor football fortunes, high school super quarterback Doyle Traylor from Temple, endured a similar fate once he donned the green and gold.

"I'm finishing the requirements for my master's degree now," Martin said. "I will have completed all the class requirements by the end of the second summer session. Then I'll just have to complete an internship and I'm going to do that by going to work with the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona from Aug. 15 to Dec. 15. I'll take my exit exam at Baylor in December and get my degree, and then I'll be through with school," he said.

He will take with him one play that will remain forever indelible in his memory.

"It was against Oklahoma in my redshirt freshman year," he said. "We were playing them pretty good. We were on about a 7-play drive and we came up to a third-and-7 and I caught a 32-yard pass to keep the drive alive. It was an over-the-shoulder catch where I had to stretch out. Greg Cicero threw it. It's something I can remember."

While lady luck has been unkind, he admits to no regrets he can't handle. "First of all, not everyone gets the opportunity to play in the Big 12," he said. "And I had the opportunity to play at Baylor, which is really a high-class school.

"Over all, not everything turned out the way I wanted, but . . ."

He sounds a final note.

"I think if more of our athletes would create something like this, an annuity, it would really add up. Like guys who go on to the NFL," he suggested. "That could really help our athletic program in the future."

McCaw quickly echoes that thought.

"We hope other Baylor athletes will emulate John in his generosity," Baylor's athletic director said. "And offer this to anyone else who would like to do something similar.

"John has certainly set a shining example for all of us in the way of class, grace, generosity and appreciation."

Here's to you, John Martin. May you have all the luck in your forthcoming business career that you didn't have on the college football field.