From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the football coach. For the fictional character "Abe Martin of Brown County", see Kin Hubbard

Abe Martin

Date of birth	October 18, 1908
Place of birth	Jacksboro, Texas
Date of death	January 11, 1979
Place of death	Fort Worth, Texas
Sport	Football
College	Texas Christian University
Title	Head Coach
Overall Record	74-64-7
Coaching Stats	College Football DataWarehouse
School as a player
1928-1930	TCU
Coaching positions
1953-1966	TCU

Othol Hershel "Abe" Martin (October 18, 1908 to January 11, 1979) was a college football coach.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Coaching career 3 Head Coaching Record 4 External links

Born in Jacksboro, Texas, Martin attended Jacksboro High School and later Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, where he played football under head coach Francis Schmidt. He was part of TCU's first-ever Southwest Conference Championship team in 1929. Schmidt gave Martin his nickname after he related his style to that of a newspaper column of the day named "Abe Martin Says". He set conference records for blocking punts and recovering fumbles at TCU.

After graduating from TCU in 1932, he began his coaching career at El Paso High School in 1934, where he won two district championships. In 1936, he moved across the state to coach at Lufkin High School, where he compiled an amazing record of 66-10, with 4 district championships. He left coaching in 1943, but returned in 1944 to coach at Paschal High School in Fort Worth.

In 1945, he returned to TCU to coach football, and in 1953 was finally elevated to the head coaching position upon the retirement of Dutch Meyer. From 1953 to 1966, he coached the Horned Frogs to a 74-64-7 record, during which they appeared in the Cotton Bowl three times, as well as the Sun Bowl and Bluebonnet Bowl once each. He coached seven All-Americans at TCU, including Jim Swink and Bob Lilly.

After his 1961 team upset a previously-undefeated Texas, UT coach Darrell Royal famously described the Frogs as "cockroaches". Martin's casual response was that he had "never received so much criticism for winning a game."

After a disappointing 2-8 season in 1966, he resigned and became the school's athletic director, a post which he held until 1975. In 1972 he was elected to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in Waco.

TEAM	YEAR	W-L-T	Bowl Game	Championships
TCU	1953	3-7-0
TCU	1954	4-6-0
TCU	1955	9-2-0	Cotton Bowl	SWC Champions
TCU	1956	8-3-0	Cotton Bowl
TCU	1957	5-4-1
TCU	1958	8-2-1	Cotton Bowl	SWC Champions
TCU	1959	8-3-0	Bluebonnet Bowl	SWC Co-Champions
TCU	1960	4-4-2
TCU	1961	3-5-2
TCU	1962	6-4-0
TCU	1963	4-5-1
TCU	1964	4-6-0
TCU	1965	6-5-0	Sun Bowl
TCU	1966	2-8-0
CAREER TOTAL	14 years	74-64-7

• Texas State Handbook Information

Preceded by Dutch Meyer

TCU Head Football Coach 1953–1966

Succeeded by Fred Taylor