■ 20 April 2009 | 8:55 PM
Parting with Tron Martinez
Along Hampton Boulevard, the Tron Martinez Saga will forever be known for the manner in which ODU coach Bobby Wilder handled it: swiftly and decisively.
No need to let the matter stew, it would have just worsened.
Had Wilder let this play out in the courts before he decided the running back’s status with the Monarchs’ football program, the criticism would have been harsh.
For those in the dark, Martinez was one of 13 arrested Friday in Hampton on multiple gang-related charges. The police have linked Martinez to the 36th Street Bang Squad, a sect of the Bloods national criminal street gang that operated in Hampton.
Martinez, 19, has been charged with malicious wounding, conspiracy to commit malicious wounding, maiming by mob, gang participation, assault and battery, assault and battery by mob, and robbery.
No matter what happens at this point – he could be found innocent of all charges – public opinion will hold that Tron Martinez is a felonious gang banger, a thug. The timing of all of this, from Martinez’s perspective, is very poor. Not a week ago, HBO aired a segment on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel about gang activity in the Hampton Roads region and the deaths of young athletes because of it.
Meanwhile, the region’s image has been shredded over the last 10 years by star basketball and football players from the area getting into trouble with the law. Take your pick: Allen Iverson, Michael Vick, Plaxico Burress. Hampton Roads puts out great athletes, but here’s where we presently, and disturbingly, stand: Whether they’ll pass through a metal detector without setting it off is open for debate. Some call that character assassination. Others ask: What character?
Wilder will not discuss why he ultimately made the decision to retract Martinez’s scholarship offer – the star Hampton High running back was seen as a prized recruit in this year’s signing class – but the reasons are clear-cut.
* With a football team that is just getting off the ground, one of the worst things that could happen would be for the Monarchs to be labeled a “thug” program. It’s a tough label to shake once it’s bestowed upon a program, about as tough to remove as a tattoo.
* By withdrawing the school’s scholarship offer, Wilder has sent a message to Monarchs, both present and future, that this type of behavior will not be tolerated. The next time something like this happens, it will be that much easier for Wilder to point to the precedent which he has already set.
* With his coaching staff hitting the road this week, finding a running back to fill a roster spot has jumped a few notches on the list of priorities. Recruiting is an ongoing process. Might as well let the wheels turn.
Twelve days ago, Martinez attended a Monarchs practice as ODU prepared for its spring game. While there, he was quiet and withdrawn. Thinking back on the moment, it’s hard to shake the thought that he might have known the arrest warrants were already being drawn up. Most recruits jabber on when asked about the upcoming season and what they expect. They fill up notebook pages. Martinez was brief with his answers and subdued in his responses.
Martinez was adopted a few years ago and moved to Hampton from Fayetteville, N.C. His adoptive father, Jack Allison, went onto the Daily Press website, Martinez’s hometown paper, and posted the following late Sunday:
“Our family is devastated with the situation we find ourselves in with our son Tron. We all love and support Tron and will continue to show that love and support as he faces the lengthy legal process ahead. To those friends, family and strangers who have shown Tron and our family their support, thank you very much. It means an awful lot to all of us and is a source of strength for Tron. To those who have chosen to attack him in the media and on the internet, we simply ask that you allow Tron his constitutional right to due process before you convict him in the media.”
Still, Martinez is presently sitting in the Hampton City Jail, which means he’s not attending high school, which ultimately questions whether or not Martinez will even graduate.
Did Wilder have any choice in his actions? Probably not, and for many reasons. There’s been an underlying current at ODU ever since it was announced that football was being added that this would bring about certain issues and ultimately certain problems. In other words, troubles with the law.
ODU had been for all these years the school of Olympic sports. Well, Olympic sports and golf. For all anyone knows, there could be other athletes at ODU who have had run-ins with the law over the years, but their sports are so far off the general public’s radar that nobody pays attention to such transgressions.
Football isn’t an Olympic sport. It is America’s sport, plain and simple. And it’s covered from top to bottom by the media, whether it be a winning touchdown in a bowl game or a DUI three days after scoring that big TD.
The spotlight doesn’t dim on football programs just because the final second ticks off the clock. And with millions of dollars invested by schools like ODU to play football, that 24/7 approach should be expected.
There is an indisputable fact when dealing with the gridiron: Many football players of repute come from urban settings of ill repute.
Coaches don’t actively seek out thugs, but they do seek out players who can run the 40 in a blaze and can hit as hard as a baseball bat. And sometimes they are one and the same. All that can be done is to make every effort possible to steer clear of that booby trap while on the recruiting trail.
Mike Smith, long-time coach at Hampton High, didn’t see Martinez headed down a potential road to ruin, so he couldn’t alert Wilder that something foul may be blowing in the wind.
Add about 90 football players to ODU’s athletic department and eventually one will run amiss of the law. Martinez ran into it while in the gray area: Signed to a national letter of intent with ODU, but not actually a full-fledged Monarch.
Wilder has said time and again that he wants to recruit players who are three things: good citizens, good students and good athletes. Meatloaf may have sung “Two out of three ain’t bad,” but Meatloaf won’t be playing over the public address system at Monarchs games.
ODU is left to go into preseason workouts with four running backs: junior college transfer Alex McLaughlin, scholarship red-shirt freshman Jeremie Simmons, red-shirt freshman walk-on Jamar Parham, and scholarship red-shirt freshman Desmond “D.D.” Williams.
That the ODU coaching staff experimented with moving Williams – a former high school quarterback who came in as a wide receiver in the fall – to running back during spring workouts makes them look like geniuses.
But the fact is that Martinez was seen as “the guy.” He would have been groomed for two years while he very likely played behind McLaughlin. Then when the Monarchs started competing in the Colonial Athletic Association in 2011, Martinez would have been the ace back in ODU’s deck of cards.
Now the Monarchs are reshuffling.
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