Martin returns to a hero’s welcome

After spending four years in Cheney taking EWU to the top of the college football world, LaCrosse native Matt Martin returned home to a hero’s welcome.

One week after taking the NCAA Football Championship Series trophy with a 20-19 win over Delaware in Frisco, Texas, Martin returned home to speak to an auditorium full of wide-eyed LaCrosse students.

National champion Matt Martin speaks to LaCrosse students.

“It’s kind of hard to believe, being back here, how big a deal it all actually is,” said Martin. “It still hasn’t quite set in yet.”

Winning is not new to Martin.

As a student athlete at LaCrosse High School who graduated in 2006, Martin was a member of the ferocious Tigercat football team that won four straight state championships.

Later, Martin was the starting tight end for the Eastern Washington University football squad.

Even with all his experience in winning, the big-time stage of a national championship was a little overwhelming for a kid from LaCrosse.

“I’m sorry if I stumble over my words,” he told students. “I’m still pretty giddy.”

Martin said teachers, friends and others in the close knit LaCrosse community instilled in him a drive to constantly push himself.

“They were always pushing me, always making sure I did my best,” he said. “And that has always pushed me.”

During the assembly, LaCrosse students, many looking up in awe at their former schoolmate, grilled Martin on his chances in professional football, what it was like to play on the new red turf at Cheney, his marital status and his toughest opponents.

For the record, Martin said he has no chance in the pros, grew to love the red turf and is single. But, while the University of Nevada squad may have been the hardest hitters Martin played, he said his toughest opponents were his LaCrosse classmates.

Throughout their years growing up in western Whitman County, the class of 2006 prodded each other through constant competition in all phases of their lives.

“Even with the times tables in Mrs. Bafus’ class, we wanted to be the best,” he remembered. “We competed at everything.”

Martin played as a kick returner and receiver in high school. His class, the 2006 graduates, led LaCrosse/Washtucna to four straight state championships and a 47-game winning streak.

Martin started 18 games at Eastern and was the only senior on this year’s team to play in all 50 games over his four-year playing career.

He recalled the locker room after Eastern lost to Portland State in his freshman year. The loss was the first football game Martin had not won.

“It was definitely a different feeling. I mean, I was in locker rooms after we lost basketball games, but it was definitely different,” he said.

Martin earned Academic All-American honors after posting a 3.76 grade point average as a double major in communications and finance. He expects to graduate this spring.

Before the assembly, Martin was introduced by long-time LaCrosse teacher and fellow Eastern alum Kermit Wigen. Wigen bragged of his own exploits as a member of the 1967 Savages which lost the national championship game to Fairmont State 28-21.

“We played on green grass. The real stuff that real players play on,” Wigen noted as he kidded Martin about the new red turf at Cheney.