 Martin andEd "Too Tall" Jones present PresidentGerald Ford with a football jersey at the Texas Stadium Club, April 9, 1976. | |||||||||||||
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| 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 State (1969–1972) | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1973: 3rd round, 53rd pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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Harvey Banks Martin (November 16, 1950 – December 24, 2001) was an American professionalfootball player who was adefensive end in theNational Football League (NFL) for theDallas Cowboys from 1973 until 1983. He starred atSouth Oak Cliff High School andEast Texas State University, before becoming anAll-Pro with the Cowboys.
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 afootball team for the first time in his life. The team went 9–1, though Martin was a backupoffensive tackle and 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 State in Commerce (now namedTexas A&M University–Commerce).
Outside ofDwight White being his roommate, his first two college seasons playing as adefensive end were undistinguished.[1] But he evolved into the bestdefensive end in 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-LSC teams.
Martin is one of the most recognized names in the history ofTexas A&M University–Commerce athletics and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1987.Texas A&M University–Commerce in 2008 also started hosting the Harvey Martin Classic, where the school'sfootball team plays against another team from theLone Star Conference.
In 2007, he was selected to theLone Star Conference’s 75th Anniversaryfootball team and was named theLSC defensive player of the decade for the 1970s. In 2010, he was inducted into theLone Star Conference Hall Of Fame.
Martin was selected by theDallas Cowboys in 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.
TheNFL didn't start recognizingquarterback sacks as 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,[2] leading the Cowboys insacks seven times during a nine-year period, with a high total of 23sacks in1977.[3]Martin played only on passing downs as a rookie, but still led the team inquarterback sacks with 9, tyingWillie Townes rookie 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 mostsacks for a rookie (9 -1973) and in a season (23 -1977).[4] His unofficial career franchise sack record lasted 30 years, before being broken byDeMarcus Ware in2013.[5]
His1977 season was one of the greatest ever by anNFL player. In a 14-game season he totaled 85 tackles and a league-leading 23sacks[6] (more thanMichael Strahan's 22.5 record in 16 games), he was named theNFL Defensive Player of the Year, a consensusAll-Pro selection, was a key player in the Cowboys winningSuper Bowl XII, and a co-MVP of the game withRandy White.
Martin remained the teamsack leader 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 season with a 16-sack performance in1978, 10 in1979, 12 in1980, 10 in1981, 8 in1982 and 2 in1983.
As part of the famedDoomsday Defense, "The Beautiful" aka "Too Mean" went to thePro Bowl four times. Former Cowboys GMTex Schramm stated: "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".[7] 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.[8]
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 Association named Martin to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2016.[9]
Following his retirement in 1984, Martin briefly served as anNFL analyst forNBC, participated in the battle royal atWrestleMania 2[10] (1986) forWorld Wrestling Federation, and appeared several times inWorld Class Championship Wrestling and theGlobal Wrestling Federation as a ringside commentator.
Withfootball gone, many inner demons came to light, including bankruptcies, domestic violence, and polysubstance abuse. Although coachTom Landry sent him torehab in1983, Martin continued to abuse drugs and alcohol. He hit rock-bottom in1996 when "Too Mean" was jailed ondomestic violence andcocaine charges, 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 cancer on December 24, 2001, at the age of 51.[11] Martin was firstSuper BowlMost Valuable Player to die. The surviving co-MVP,Randy White, would perform theceremonial coin toss atSuper Bowl XLVII, which, like Super Bowl XII, was played inNew Orleans. White was also present to represent Martin and himself at bothSuper Bowl XL andSuper Bowl 50, during the recognition honors for all past Super Bowl MVP's.
Defensive tackle Harvey Martin of the Cowboys had 23 sacks in 1977 -as many as the entire San Diego team had in 1976
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