R-223 Page 1 of 1
2024
No. R-223. House concurrent resolution honoring Norwich University Athletic Hall of Fame member Harold Martin, in celebration of Black History Month.
(H.C.R.169)
Offered by: Representatives Donahue of Northfield, Goslant of Northfield, and Morgan of Milton Offered by: Senators Cummings, Perchlik, Ram Hinsdale, and Watson Whereas, Norwich University’s first Black Cadet Harold (Doc) Martin’s pioneering academic, athletic, and leadership achievements foreshadowed his distinguished academic,
coaching, and military career, and Whereas, as a varsity athlete on the icy hockey surface (probably the first Black collegiate ice hockey player in the nation), on the baseball diamond, on the track, and on
the gridiron, where he proudly served as captain, Doc Martin was a valued team member,
and Whereas, Doc Martin rose to the rank of 1st Sergeant in the Corps of Cadets, served on
the Norwich University Student Council, and was the athletic editor of the student publication War Whoop, and Whereas, he earned a master’s degree from New York University, and held faculty posts at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia, and Shaw University in Raleigh,
North Carolina, and Whereas, starting in 1927, Doc Martin served as Director of Athletics at Virginia State University, and, beginning in 1932, he became Director of Health and Physical Education at Miner College in Washington, DC, and Whereas, Doc Martin played for a season with the Pittsburgh Keystones of the former Negro Leagues Baseball, and he coached nine of his college teams in various sports to
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships, and Whereas, in 1942, Doc Martin joined the Army Air Force, and, in 1943, was appointed Director of the Ground School at Tuskegee Airfield in Alabama, earned the rank of major,
was tragically killed on March 23, 1945 in a plane crash near Reidsville, North Carolina,
and he was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery, and Whereas, in 1984, Doc Martin, Class of 1920, was inducted into the Norwich University Athletic Hall of Fame, now therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:
That the General Assembly honors Norwich University Athletic Hall of Fame member Harold Martin, in celebration of Black History Month, and be it further Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this resolution to
the Director of Campus and Athletic Communications at Norwich University.
VT LEG #375149 v.1