He played football at Amarillo High School and was a part of the Sanies 1936 undefeated State Championship team.
A&M was undefeated and the defending National Champion and the upset was such that the 13 Longhorns who played that day, of which Martin was one, were known at the time as "The Immortal Thirteen.
They immediately suffered a 7-7 tie to Baylor and a 14-7 loss to TCU, mostly due to four injured starters, to drop to #10 before again upsetting Texas A&M who was again ranked #2 at the time.
He later joined the United States Army Air Forces during World War II and become a Flight Officer stationed in Shamshernagar, India, flying airlift missions over the Hump.
[12] In June 1945, the AAF announced plans to form seven football teams and in August, Martin was selected to ship out to Berry Field in Nashville to play for the Air Transport Command Rockets that year.