Heidelberg Athletics Hall of Fame
He could easily be labeled as the Marathon Man of Tiffin. Ronald A. Martin loves to run, and run, and run.
His life has been one giant marathon of running and teaching. In both cases, his efforts have been outstanding.
It all began at Tiffin Columbian High School where he took the mile and the 880-yard run championships in the Northern Ohio League. He set the Tornado school record in the 800 at 2:01.7.
Martin's next stop was Heidelberg College where he quickly picked up where he left off in high school. In 1973, he was the Prugh Prize winner and once held nine school records at Heidelberg and the cross country mark for five miles at 25:29.
During the 1973 season, he set indoor marks in the two mile relay of 8:33.9 and distance medley at 10:57.6 while establishing three marks outdoors, including the two mile relay (8:16.8), three mile run (14:56.0), and four mile relay (19:05.3).
When 1974 rolled around, he established an indoor mark in the two-mile run (9:35.9) and the distance medley outdoors (10:32.0). Just for good measure, he was on the winning mile relay team in 1975 in record breaking time of 3:39.2.
But it was on June 7, 1975 that Martin feels he had his brightest moment in his love for running. Shortly after graduating from Heidelberg he was a member of a relay team that set a new world record in the 24-hour relay that still stands at 273 miles, 600 yards.
In addition, he was third at the Athens marathon in two hours and thirty-eight minutes and he qualified to run in the Boston Marathon. Moving into the coaching ranks, Martin found continued success winning the Pioneer Valley Conference Coach of the Year eight times, and the District Coach of the year twelve times.
In 1985, he received the Chamber of Commerce Goodwill Ambassador Award before being honored as the State Coach of the Year in 1986-1987 and Scholastic Coach Magazine Coach of the Year in 1986 to 1987.
During his coaching career in cross country, he has ten unbeaten dual meet seasons (151-11 record); an overall record of 1,601-247; his teams have won 66 major invitationals; 10 league titles; and he has coached 17 All-Ohio cross country runners; five individual state champions; and coached a national high school cross country champion.
In track, he has coached 25 All-Ohio distance runners; eight state champions in distance events; and eight high school All-Americans. Add to those totals, coaching three high school All-Americans in cross country. It's easy to see why Martin's trademark has been success as an athlete and a coach.
(This profile appeared in the Hall of Fame Banquet program.)
