Harvey Martin

For the Danish sculptor, seeHarvey Martin (sculptor).

Harvey Martin

Martin andEd "Too Tall" Jonespresent PresidentGerald Fordwith a football jersey at the Texas Stadium Club, April 9, 1976.
No. 79
Position:	Defensive end
Personal information
Born:	(1950-11-16)November 16, 1950 Dallas, Texas,U.S.
Died:	December 24, 2001(2001-12-24)(aged 51) Grapevine, Texas,U.S.
Height:	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight:	262 lb (119 kg)
Career information
High school:	South Oak Cliff(Dallas, Texas)
College:	East Texas(1969–1972)
NFL draft:	1973/ round: 3 / pick: 53
Career history
Dallas Cowboys(1973–1983)
Career highlights and awards
Super Bowl champion(XII) Super Bowl co-MVP(XII) NFL Defensive Player of the Year(1977) First-teamAll-Pro(1977) 3× Second-teamAll-Pro(1976,1979,1982) 4×Pro Bowl(1976–1979) NFL sacks leader(1977) NFL 1970s All-Decade Team Third-teamLittle All-American(1972)
Career NFL statistics
Sacks: 10 Safeties: 2 Interceptions: 2 Interception yards: 7 Fumble recoveries: 6
Player stats atPFR

Harvey Banks Martin(November 16, 1950 – December 24, 2001) was an American professionalfootballplayer who was adefensive endin theNational Football League(NFL) for theDallas Cowboysfrom 1973 until 1983. He starred atSouth Oak Cliff High SchoolandEast Texas State University,before becoming anAll-Prowith the Cowboys.

Early life

In Martin's junior year (1967) in high school, he transferred toSouth Oak Cliff High School,which had become the first integrated high school in Dallas. That year, he overheard his father tell his mother that he was ashamed that his son did not play like his friends' children, so Martin decided to suit up for afootballteam for the first time in his life. The team went 9–1, though Martin was a backupoffensive tackleand only played whenever they had a sizable lead.

He would change that in his senior year, when in the spring game he got a chance to fill in on defense and eventually convinced the coaches to move him todefensive tackle.By the third game of his senior season, he was a starter and became the best lineman on a 12–1 team that won the Dallas City championship and went on to the State quarterfinals. Still he was so thin and so late-blooming, that the only college that offered him a scholarship wasEast Texas Statein Commerce (now namedTexas A&M University–Commerce).

Outside ofDwight Whitebeing his roommate, his first two college seasons playing as adefensive endwere undistinguished.But he evolved into the bestdefensive endin school history. During his senior year (1972), en route to leading the school to a national title, he was named to theNAIAAll-American,All-Texas, and All-LSCteams.

Martin is one of the most recognized names in the history ofTexas A&M University–Commerceathletics and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1987.Texas A&M University–Commercein 2008 also started hosting the Harvey Martin Classic, where the school'sfootballteam plays against another team from theLone Star Conference.

In 2007, he was selected to theLone Star Conference’s 75th Anniversaryfootballteam and was named theLSCdefensive player of the decade for the 1970s. In 2010, he was inducted into theLone Star ConferenceHall Of Fame.

Professional career

Martin was selected by theDallas Cowboysin the third round of the1973 NFL draft.During his first years with the team, the coaching staff looked to instill in Martin a sense of aggressiveness, confidence and mental toughness, that didn't come naturally to him. He eventually improved his physical strength and his technique by practicing against future hall of famerRayfield Wright.He also developed into an emotional player and fierce competitor, so much so, that he was nicknamed "Too Mean". By his third year in1975,he was a full-time starter.

TheNFLdidn't start recognizingquarterback sacksas an official stat until1982;however, the Cowboys have their own records, dating back before the1982 season.According to the Cowboys' stats, Martin is unofficially credited with a total of 114sacks,leading the Cowboys insacksseven times during a nine-year period, with a high total of 23sacksin1977. Martin played only on passing downs as a rookie, but still led the team inquarterback sackswith 9, tyingWillie Townesrookie team record. Martin took down the QB 7.5 times in 1974 and 9.5 times in 1975. Martin broke out with 15 1/2 sacks in 1976 and made the Pro Bowl for the first time. He still holds the team record for mostsacksfor a rookie (9 -1973) and in a season (23 -1977).His unofficial career franchise sack record lasted 30 years, before being broken byDeMarcus Warein2013.

His1977 seasonwas one of the greatest ever by anNFLplayer. In a 14-game season he totaled 85 tackles and a league-leading 23sacks(more thanMichael Strahan's 22.5 record in 16 games), he was named theNFL Defensive Player of the Year,a consensusAll-Proselection, was a key player in the Cowboys winningSuper Bowl XII,and a co-MVP of the game withRandy White.

Martin remained the teamsackleader or co-leader every year, but his totals started to dwindle as his personal problems (financial problems and addictions) grew bigger. He followed up his 23-sack1977 seasonwith a 16-sackperformance in1978,10 in1979,12 in1980,10 in1981,8 in1982and 2 in1983.

As part of the famedDoomsday Defense,"The Beautiful" aka "Too Mean" went to thePro Bowlfour times. Former Cowboys GMTex Schrammstated: "He'll be remembered as one of the great Cowboys of the golden years... He was a great player, one of the first great pass rushers".Martin, along withDon Meredith,is among the few players to play his high school (DallasSouth Oak Cliff High School), college (East Texas State University, nowTexas A&M University–Commerce), and pro career (Dallas Cowboys) in and around the Dallas, Texas, area. He never played a home game, at any level, outside of North Texas.

Martin retired in 1983 after refusing to take a Cowboys ordered drug test and during a feud with the team in which he claimed he was being forced to play injured. Martin later admitted in a 1986 autobiography that he did indeed have a cocaine addiction at the time.

In 2009, he was inducted into theTexas Sports Hall of Fame.He is also a member of the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame.

TheProfessional Football Researchers Associationnamed Martin to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2016.

Personal life

Following his retirement in 1984, Martin briefly served as anNFLanalyst forNBC,participated in the battle royal atWrestleMania 2(1986) forWorld Wrestling Federation,and appeared several times inWorld Class Championship Wrestlingand theGlobal Wrestling Federationas a ringside commentator.

Withfootballgone, many inner demons came to light, including bankruptcies, domestic violence, and polysubstance abuse. Although coachTom Landrysent him torehabin1983,Martin continued to abuse drugs and alcohol. He hit rock-bottom in1996when "Too Mean" was jailed ondomestic violenceandcocainecharges, receiving probation and spending eight months in a court-ordered rehabilitation program.

During the last years of his life, Martin turned his life around. He secured a job as a salesman for Dallas company Arrow-Magnolia. He also spoke to children, drug addicts, and other groups about drug abuse and the challenges of his life. On December 24, 2001, Martin died of pancreatic cancer at Baylor Medical Center in Grapevine, Texas. He was survived by his mother, son, and daughter. Martin never married. Many former teammates were among the 1,000 people who attended his funeral service at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. Martin's sister, Mary Martin, established the Harvey Martin Dream Foundation, Inc., an organization to foster educational mentoring and financial assistance to minority high school students, in her brother's memory. Of Harvey Martin's legacy, Tex Schramm commented, “He’ll be remembered as one of the great Cowboys of the golden years.”

Martin died ofpancreatic canceron December 24, 2001, at the age of 51.BeforeBart Starr's death on May 26, 2019, Martin was the onlySuper BowlMost Valuable Playerto have died. The surviving co-MVP,Randy White,would perform theceremonial coin tossatSuper Bowl XLVII,which, like Super Bowl XII, was played inNew Orleans.White was also present to represent Martin and himself at bothSuper Bowl XLandSuper Bowl 50,during the recognition honors for all past Super Bowl MVP's.

External links

• A Shining Knight No More
• The Comeback of Harvey Martin - dallasobserver.info
• Lone Star Conference Hall of Fame bio
• Harvey Martin Dream Foundation