Phil Martin, Basketball (1951-54)
This inductee is known as the university's finest basketball players ever, Mr. Phil Martin known in heyday as "Flip" Martin. Phil came to UT from Jackson, Michigan, like another prominent name in Rocket basketball--- Mr. Bob Nichols. After a two year hitch in the Navy (he enlisted when he was 15 years old), Phil made the first string freshman team at Michigan State...then, at the urging of Bob Nichols, he accepted the invitation of Coach Jerry Bush to try out for the Toledo team (tryouts were legal in those days). Phil Martin quickly became a basketball legend at the University, starting as a forward at six-three. He won three letters from 1951-52 through 1953-54 on teams that gave UT its first ever Mid-American Conference championship and totaled 49 wins and only 28 defeats. Phil was first-team All-MAC and first-team All-Ohio in 1952, leading the MAC in scoring with an average of 17.4 points per game and breaking the league scoring record. He repeated his All-MAC and first-team and All-Ohio honors in 1953, and he made it three years in a row in 1954 when he averaged 19.3 per game. For his three-year career, Phil scored 1,240 points. The second best total in Rocket History at that time, by only five points. That total stands yet today as the seventh best in UT history. Phil Martin was more than a scorer. The man who nominated him described him as "The best driver UT ever had" although he was only six-three, he led the team in rebounding as well as scoring. By the time he was a Rocket Senior, National Basketball Magazines listed him as one of the ten best players in the Midwest along with more publicized players like Clarence (Bevo) Francis, Paul Ebert of Ohio State, Al Bianchi of Bowling Green, and University of Dayton stars John Horan and Jack Sallee. By his senior year, Phil was hailed as the best basketball player in the state of Ohio. And that included Ohio State; one pro scout described him in the paper as "real honey"." He was drafted for the NBA by the old Milwaukee Hawks and played professionally with that team.
http://utrockets.sidearmsports.com/
