Academy To Give Courage Award To J.R. Martinez; His Football Coaches Saw Early Signs Of Heroism

Dec. 11, 2009 - PRLog -- DAPHNE, AL - Dalton (Ga): When High School Director Ronnie McClurg first saw 17-year-old J.R. Martinez practice with his football team, he knew something was special.

‘I told him after the first practice that he made the team.’ said McClurg, Dalton’s head football coach at the time. ‘It was not only because of his attitude and the morale he generated around him, but he didn’t know a single person there and you would have thought he was the captain by the way he communicated with his teammates on the first day.’

Now, millions of people know who he is. Martinez, the United States Sports Academy’s 2010 winner of the Mildred ‘Babe’ Dickerson-Zaharias Courage Award, is now a regular on the television daytime drama ‘All My Children’, despite the facial scars given to him by a land-mine in Iraq - scars that 32 surgeries could not take away. In addition, the Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, tirelessly tours the country giving motivational speeches, charming far more people now, than he did as a handsome teenager in Georgia eight years ago.

Martinez moved from Hope, AK to Dalton the summer before his senior year in high school with his mother, in search of better opportunities in life. Though he was in position to start defense on his team in Hope before the move, he was determined to find a position on the new team in Dalton.

‘I thought he was a delightful person to work with and very entertaining on the field.’ Hope High School head coach Johnny Turner said.

Martinez called McClurg when he first arrived in Dalton and asked about trying out for the team. McClurg said he usually doesn’t keep seniors on the team unless they are starters or on special teams, but there was something about Martinez. Martinez played running back on the team, as well as special teams for Dalton, contributing strongly to his team, making State finals.

The Catamounts opponent in the finals, Statesboro, was also their final opponent in the regular season. Statesboro ran a wishbone offensive, a tricky, run-oriented formation made famous in college by Alabama, Texas and Oklahoma. It involves three running backs in the back field, two halfbacks and a fullback, with the fullback slightly closer to the quarterback than halfbacks, and Martinez played a hard game.

‘After we watched the game films, J.R. volunteered to work on scout teams, playing the role of our (Statesboro’s) fullback.’ McClurg said. ‘He took a real pounding that week. But that was his attitude. He wanted to do whatever was best for his team, just like he wanted to do was best for his country.’

Both McClurg and Turner referred to Martinez as a ‘hard-nosed player.’

‘He was very physical for his size.’ Turner said. ‘He was very energetic about his team. Everyone on the team like him. He led by example.’

The impact he had on the Dalton community in just one year was more than evident when he returned from Iraq.

The player ‘who would never quit’ nearly quit life, as well as the game, after a land-mine planted in Karbala, Iraq trapped him inside the Humvee he was driving, leaving him severely burned less than one year after he graduated Dalton and joined the Army. Upon his first look in the mirror, he stopped eating and refused to speak to anyone, as he contemplated his injuries and future. The explosion left 40 percent of his body burned, including the entire left side of his face. After 32 surgeries - the longest lasting 15 hours - during 34 months, Martinez decided to use the scars to ‘get peoples attention’ and have his voice and more important, his positive message of life and faith heard.

‘He had the opportunity to just quit.’ McClurg said. ‘He could have quit when he came to us, but J.R. had no quit in him and certainly has not quit since he was wounded.’

Martinez leads the way, working and speaking with our wounded warriors, helping them visualize the possibilities in life. But he doesn’t stop there. He continues to create a world where his message of courage, faith and perseverance is heard by troops and civilians alike, including using his role as the character Brot on ‘All My Children’, where he plays a veteran who is re-establishing his life in the civilian world. Currently, his story line finds him falling in love with a beautiful character, but because of his disfigurement, he is unsure if his romantic attention will be accepted.

The Mildred ‘Babe’ Dickerson-Zaharias Courage Award, is presented annually as a part of the American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA) Academy Awards of Sport program, honoring the artist and the athlete.

The United State Sports Academy is an independent, nonprofit, accredited, special mission sports university created to serve the Nation and the world with programs in instruction, research and service. The role of the Academy is to prepare men and women for careers in the profession of sports. For more information about the Academy, call 251-626-3303 or visit www.ussa.edu