NORTHFIELD, Vt. - It is easy to look at what Harold "Doc" Martin accomplished in college and feel as if there is no feasible way those achievements could be topped, but Martin's post-Norwich University career stands up to the challenge. The multi-sport star turned his talents into several administrative roles, from a teacher, a coach, and an athletic director.
After his graduation from Norwich, Martin first found employment as a teacher at universities in Richmond, Va., and Raleigh, N.C. from 1921 to 1927. While furthering his academic status, Martin also became an extremely successful multi-sport coach, with stops at Virginia Union, Shaw University, and Virginia State College within their respective football, basketball, baseball, and tennis programs. He also saw a year of action in professional baseball, spending time with the Pittsburgh Keystones.
From a Tuskegee, Alabama newspaper, "During these thirteen years, this health education specialist had received his master's degree from New York University. He had played professional football and declined an appointment as a West Point cadet. In 1934, he transferred his activities to college where he remained until 1942. The ex-professor, a member of Washington's Bachelor Benedict Club, spent his vacation as director of summer camps. He was a first lieutenant in the first colored auxiliary police in Washington."
Martin's coaching tenure at Virginia State began without a hitch, as "the beginning of a great athletic program for the college was presaged when Coach Martin's boys kicked hapless Bowie, 52-10, on the first Founder's Day, 1933" (Varsity). His stature as a coach was without question, even in other sports, which was highlighted "in the March issue appeared a picture of the first Miner basketball team coached by Martin, who sported his characteristic mustache and, according to another note "decreed" no competitive mustaches to be work by varsity men."
His triumphs were not just on the field, where "his football teams were fighting teams winning and losing good games," but also on the hardwood. During his second complete year at Miner, Coach Martin "had trained a good team and inspired it to play great basketball", taking his team in front of around 1,500 spectators where they "whipped Howard University, then CIAA championships," 45-36. "Coach had taken a group of fellows, only one of whom had played ball in high school, and had brought them to a level of knocking off top college teams."
For his illustrious career, Martin finished his football coaching career with a wildly impressive 63-22-12 record, including a 42-9-4 mark solely at Virginia State. The 1929 campaign saw the Trojans finish a perfect 9-0. In total, Martin claimed nine CIAA championships between 1921 and 1931, with four coming in football, a pair in baseball and tennis, and one in basketball.
But Martin's accomplishments stretched beyond coaching positions, and into administrative and leadership titles. He served Miner at the Twelfth Annual Spring Conference of the Eastern States Association of Professional Schools for Teachers in 1936. In the May 1937 issue of Varsity, "a condensation of a research paper on development of physical education programs and an editorial on 'The Student Health Problem' both appeared — work of Harold D. Martin, instructor in physical education."
His lengthy list of extracurricular activities during his time at Norwich, likewise, found its way into his post-collegiate life. Martin was appointed the chairman for the First Annual College Carnival by the College Life Committee in May 1938, a position he honored until he entered the military come World War II. His tutelage style sprung to life in this position, as, in November, it was "reported that Coach Martin 'has sent out requests for the names of any men interested in the singing of Christmas carols on Christmas eve.' He trained the men to sing. The next month Coach Martin explained to the assembled students the value of the Tuberculosis X-Ray examination."
Coach Martin's experiences with track in college also aided him with his community service, as he organized an annual city-wide track meet for elementary schools and junior high schools. "This excellent educational contribution proved an opportunity for youngsters to enjoy clean competitions and an opportunity for the men of college to organize and train the entries."
But even with his busy lifestyle, Martin still dedicated his most valuable time to the former Miss Beatrice C. Boyd, his wife of 15 years. She worked together with Martin, exhibiting "the same delight in physical education work." She did professional dancing and assisted the physical education director while taking special courses at Tuskegee Institute.
And even as war began, Martin did not suffer a misstep in his athletic conquests. In 1940 at the Fayetteville tournament, Martin's team won the first annual basketball trophy of the Eastern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. His 1941 football team won several games by significant margins, and the next year, he served the school faithfully "at the automobile accident involving most of the basketball team and saw that all men were hospitalized for necessary treatment, many of whom are now in the armed forces of the U.S.A" (Varsity).
And this all barely scratches the surface of what Martin accomplished in the years between Norwich University and World War II. Martin was a former CIAA commissioner of football officials, a physical education director, a successful multi-sport coach, a well-rounded teacher, and a man who dedicated his life to his community.
No greater sentence can summarize Martin's life than what was written in a tribute piece in Varsity after his passing: "Sincere and eulogistic statements offered in the past few weeks attest to the valued work of Major Harold Douglas Martin, late instructor in the college. The college community, athletics, public school physical education, camp life, church work, the war program – it is incredible that a man could make an honest contribution in so many fields of work."
