As a basketball player, Martin played for the Capitanes de Arecibo of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) for five seasons.

He was coached by Raymond Dalmau, from whom he learned to be honest with his players, and his assistant Carlos Calcaño whom he credits as a source of inspirational quotes.

Conference tournament champion Martin was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from where his family relocated to New York.

His original nickname was in Spanish, "Che", which eventually became "Chuck" because the English speakers couldn't pronounce it properly.

[6] Martin retains links with the island to this day, taking his son to a tryout for the juvenile Puerto Rico national team in 2019.