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Slater Nelson "Dugie" Martin Jr. (October 22, 1925 – October 18, 2012) was an American professional basketball player and coach who was a playmaking guard for 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A seven-time NBA All-Star, he won five championships. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Martin's grandmother got him interested in playing basketball at a young age, and made great efforts to support his development as a basketball player. She learned the subtleties of the game, and would conduct review sessions with Martin after his high school games. Martin was an alumnus of Jefferson Davis High School (now Northside High School) in Houston, where he led his school to two state basketball championships in 1942 and 1943, at 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) and 130 pounds (59 kg). Martin won All-State honors as a player both years as well.
He averaged 9.4 points per game as a sophomore guard during the 1946-47 season, in which UT won the Southwest Conference (SWC) title with a 12–0 conference record and 26–2 overall record. Texas defeated Wyoming in the first round of the 1947 NCAA tournament, but then lost to Oklahoma. UT then defeated City College of New York to take third place in the tournament, which only consisted of eight teams at the time.
He averaged 12.7 points per game as a junior the following season. Texas played in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1948. As a senior, he led the Southwest Conference in scoring at 16 points per game, 3.1 points per game better than the runner-up. Martin set a UT and Southwest Conference scoring record in 1949 with 49 points in a game for the Longhorns against Texas Christian University (TCU).
Martin and backcourt teammates Al Madsen (5 ft 10 in) and Roy Cox (5 ft 8 in) were known as the "Mighty Mice". Throughout his career with the Longhorns, he averaged 12.7 points per game. At the time he graduated, he held the school's scoring record.
In 1948, as a junior, Slater was named a third-team All-America by both the Helms Athletic Foundation and True Magazine. Martin was named a 1949 Helms Athletic Foundation first-team All-American team as a senior, and second-team All-American by Look Magazine. He was All-SWC as a junior and senior. Opposing coach Bill Henderson of the Baylor Bears said of Martin, "'He was a great team man, a leader, a shooter, a passer, a great ball hawk .... And he was a great influence on others. He was dedicated to basketball, and unhesitatingly helped others.'"
His former high school now holds an annual fund raiser in his name, the "Slater Martin Golf Tournament", which successfully raises tens of thousands of dollars each year for high school student clubs and athletic teams.
He was the one defender who posed a problem to Boston Celtics' Hall of Fame guard Bob Cousy, who had to call for picks from teammates to get free of Martin's tight defense. Cousy also was known for flamboyant play, including dribbling behind his back. After dribbling behind his back against Martin, Martin "'told Cousy that if he did that again that I would break his nose. He didn’t do it again.'"
From 1949-56, Martin played for the George Mikan-led Minneapolis Lakers that won four NBA championships between 1950 and 1954. Mikan was the tallest player in the NBA and Martin the shortest. When Mikan first saw the 5 ft 10 in Martin, he thought Martin was a ballboy. The Naismith Hall of Fame said of Martin, "He was a steadying influence on five NBA championship teams, melding the NBA's first great frontcourt of Hall of Famers Jim Pollard, George Mikan, and Vern Mikkelsen into a cohesive unit." Martin played under Naismith Hall of Fame head coach John Kundla during Martin's entire Lakers career. Among Martin's Lakers teammates on the first two championship teams was future Pro Football Hall of Fame Minnesota Viking head coach Bud Grant.
He had a 311 consecutive game playing streak for the Lakers, missing only four games in seven years. After the 1950 championship victory over the Syracuse Nationals, the Lakers team immediately began a 20-game barnstorming tour, except the married Martin who returned to Texas. He was an All-Star four consecutive years for the Lakers, from 1952-53 to 1955-56, and was second-team All-NBA in 1954-55 and 1955-56. However, Martin and the Lakers had difficulty agreeing on his annual salary, and he held out each season he was with the Lakers.
The Hawks finished first in the Western division, swept the Lakers 3–0 in the Western Division Finals, but ultimately lost to the Boston Celtics four games to three in the 1957 NBA finals. Martin averaged 14.7 points, 4.1 assists, 3.9 rebounds in 44.1 minutes per game during the finals (second only to Pettit in minutes played for the Hawks). Martin was selected as a starting guard in the January 1957 All-Star Game, and was named second-team All-NBA for the 1956-57 season.
In 1958, Martin won another NBA title, with the Hawks, defeating the Celtics four games to two. This Hawks team was the only team to win an NBA championship during the 10-season period from 1956-57 through 1965-66 other than the Boston Celtics. During the 1958 finals, Martin averaged 41.3 minutes per game, with 12.2 points, 4.2 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game. Martin was again second team All-NBA, and a starter on the Western Division All-Star team, with eight assists in 26 minutes of play.
Martin was an All-Star and second-team All-NBA again in the 1958-59 season. Martin was injured in the first game of the 1959 Western Division Finals between the Hawks and the Lakers in a collision with Laker Ed Fleming, which the Hawks claimed involved Fleming using football-like tactics in tripping Martin and hitting him with an elbow. Kundla, still coaching the Lakers, said he never ordered his players to use roughhouse tactics, the collision and injury were unintentional, and that he had coached Slater for years and Slater was "one of the finest guys I know". Martin did not play in the remainder of the series to the Hawks' detriment, losing the series two games to four. Hawks' coach Ed Macauley would not use Martin's injury as an excuse for the loss.
Martin finished his career in 1960 with the Hawks, and was team captain. The Hawks defeated the Lakers 4–3 in the 1960 Western Division Finals (the Lakers last year in Minneapolis), but lost the 1960 NBA Finals to the Celtics in seven games. Martin was injured and only played three games against the Lakers, and did not play any games in the NBA finals against the Celtics. His final NBA game came in Game 5 against the Minneapolis Lakers on March 22, 1960. At the time Martin retired, he was the oldest and smallest player in the NBA, and the last active player from the Lakers championship teams of the early 1950s.
Martin had an opportunity to coach in Detroit after retiring, but decided to go home to Texas instead. He was head coach of the Houston Mavericks of the American Basketball Association in the 1967–68 season and part of 1968–69, and led the Mavericks into the 1968 ABA Playoffs.
In 1964, he was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. He was included in the University of Texas Longhorn's Hall of Honor in 1962.
Legacy and honors
Martin was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on May 3, 1982, in Springfield, Massachusetts. He is the only Longhorn to be so honored. His jersey number 15 was retired by the University of Texas on January 31, 2009, making him only the second Longhorn basketball player (after T. J. Ford) up to that time to have his number retired. Future All-NBA forward Kevin Durant’s number was retired soon after Martin's, after playing only one year for UT.
Death
He died of a brief illness on October 18, 2012, in Houston, Texas, aged 86.
NBA career statistics
Regular season
1949–50† Minneapolis 67 – .351 .634 – 2.2 4.0 1950–51 Minneapolis 68 – .362 .684 3.6 3.5 8.5 1951–52† Minneapolis 66 37.6 .375 .747 3.5 3.8 9.3 1952–53† Minneapolis 70 36.5 .410 .780 2.7 3.6 10.6 1953–54† Minneapolis 69 35.8 .388 .724 2.4 2.9 9.9 1954–55 Minneapolis 72 38.7 .381 .769 3.6 5.9 13.6 1955–56 Minneapolis 72 39.4 .358 .833 3.6 6.2 13.2 1956–57 New York 13 32.8 .344 .830 3.2 3.0 8.5 1956–57 St. Louis 53 37.3 .330 .782 4.6 4.3 11.5 1957–58† St. Louis 60 35.0 .336 .746 3.8 3.6 12.0 1958–59 St. Louis 71 35.3 .347 .776 3.6 4.7 9.7 1959–60 St. Louis 64 27.4 .371 .726 2.9 5.2 6.2 Career 745 35.9 .364 .762 3.4 4.2 9.8
Playoffs
1950† Minneapolis 12 – .420 .583 – 2.1 4.7 1951 Minneapolis 7 – .353 .519 6.0 3.6 7.1 1952† Minneapolis 13 40.2 .345 .732 2.8 4.3 9.0 1953† Minneapolis 12 37.8 .398 .765 2.6 3.6 10.1 1954† Minneapolis 13 41.0 .330 .743 2.2 4.6 9.7 1955 Minneapolis 7 45.0 .298 .816 4.0 4.4 13.7 1956 Minneapolis 3 40.3 .459 .833 2.3 5.0 18.0 1957 St. Louis 10 43.9 .355 .757 4.2 4.9 16.6 1958† St. Louis 11 37.8 .321 .619 4.4 3.6 11.5 1959 St. Louis 1 18.0 .800 – 3.0 2.0 8.0 1960 St. Louis 3 19.3 .077 .250 1.0 2.7 1.0 Career 92 39.4 .351 .715 3.4 3.8 10.0
See also
External links
Categories: 1925 Births, 2012 Deaths, 20th-century American Sportsmen, All-american College Men's Basketball Players, American Men's Basketball Coaches, American Men's Basketball Players, Basketball Coaches From Texas, Basketball Players From Houston, Basketball Player-coaches, Houston Mavericks Coaches, Minneapolis Lakers Players, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall Of Fame Inductees, National Collegiate Basketball Hall Of Fame Inductees, Nba All-stars, New York Knicks Players, People From Walker County, Texas, Point Guards, St. Louis Hawks Head Coaches, St. Louis Hawks Players, Texas Longhorns Men's Basketball Players, Northside High School Alumni
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