VIDEO: MARTIN SMITH, JR. HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY
Martin T. Smith Jr., played three sports at Bridgewater College and following his graduation, went on to become one of the nation's top coaches in cross-country and track and field.
While at Bridgewater, Martin averaged 9.2 points per game as the point guard on the basketball team. He won numerous cross-country races and served as captain of the track team in 1973.
After receiving a degree in history and political science, Martin started his coaching career at Oakton High School in Vienna, Va., where his team won a state title in cross-country.
He coached at Vienna for three years before beginning his college coaching career at George Mason University in 1979. In 1981, Martin became the head cross-country coach at the University of Virginia where his team won the Atlantic Coast Conference women's cross-country title in 1981 and 1982.
Martin then moved on to the University of Wisconsin in 1983, where he became the head coach for track and cross-country. The cross-county team won two national titles and finished in the top five in the nation nine times.
His coaching success continued at the University of Oregon where Martin became the head coach for track and cross-country in 1998. He was named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year and the West Region Coach of the Year in 2002. Beginning in 1998, Oregon won 14 individual conference titles through the 2003-2004 seasons.
During his college coaching career, Martin has coached more than 100 All-Americans and several individual national champions and Olympic qualifiers.
In recognition of his performance as a student-athlete at Bridgewater College and his outstanding coaching record at the high school and collegiate levels, Martin T. Smith Jr. is deserving of induction into the Bridgewater College Athletic Hall of Fame.
