Many of you probably don’t remember him. I barely do. Recruited out of Baytown, Texas. Threw one varsity pass which was complete for 47 yards. And he was our first black QB, paving the way for Quinn Grovey and Greg Thomas and now KJ. Quinn and Zim talked to him yesterday for Razorback Daily. Interesting and poignant that Lemond’s daughter paved the way to get him back in touch with the program after a long time, and she wants to attend UA.
Good watch on Hogs+. Paywall, of course. Then Zim talks about the Aggie game; I skipped that.
I saw him play for the Shoats in WMS in 74 vs. Texas Tech. Shoats got their rears fried. Ironically, Martin split time with Jim Fryrear at QB that night.
By the time I got to UA freshmen were eligible, but we still had a JV which was sometimes known as the Shoats. I think I went to our last Shoat game ever, against NEO A&M at Miami. They fried our rears too.
They gave up on a JV team after that.
Jim Fryer won the state decathlon, coached at Eudora in track (and football) by Jean Ann’s dad, Bobby Ashcraft. Jim is a college president Temple Baptist Seminary in Ohio, a school producing missionaries. He did the eulogy at Coach Ashcraft’s funeral. Jim tore up a knee or he might have been a star for the Hogs. He said he wanted to become saved while watching Coach Ashcraft read the Bible by the lights through the hotel window as they rested before his winning day to win the state decathlon. It’s interesting to me when an athlete from a tiny town like Eudora bests the athletes from Little Rock Central and other big schools in the decathlon. It happens.
He was one of three recruits from that high school: Howard Sampson and Sammie Singleton. Sampson was an All SWC safety. Singleton a RB lasted a semester along with Tommy Woods. They were rated as 2 of the 3 top RBs from Texas along with Earl Cambell.
Clay, IIRC, Cliff Powell–one of the Razorbacks’ all-time great linebackers–was also from that tiny town of Eudora. He was a standout in the late 60’s on a defense that had a lot of standouts: e.g., Rick Kersey, Bruce James, Dick Bumpas, Jerry Moore, to name a few.
Yes. Touched on that here and other Eudora guys many times here. He played for my father in law and was part of a great 440 relay. Actually, same 4 ran all the relays.
I remember when Martin Lemond took the field for the first time at WMS. Back then the PA announcer would give the name of the quarterback before the first play.
“Martin Lemond is your Razorback quarterback”
Even as a teenager I was struck by the importance of it.
And of course Clay knows it, but Bobby Ashcraft was my HS coach. Ken Newsom was our defensive coach and my position coach.
Thanks Swine by exposing us to this unbelievable pod cast. My opinion - this interview was one of the most poignant and moving interviews I have ever heard. Having the QB and his beautiful daughter (and not just appearance) share was specially moving. His admission that he didn’t have good thoughts about the U of A because of lack of playing time because of the stereotypical view by the coaches of African-American athletes e.g. will he stay in the pocket, is his smart enough, and can he be a leader?) was true transparency.
His daughter’s desire to attend the U of A, where her dad was the first black QB, made him face his demon. He came to the right conclusion - the only person you hurt by holding bitterness is yourself. It’s obvious forgiveness has filled his heart as he’s proudly wearing the Razorback polo, has since returned to the campus, has good things to say about the culture in Fayetteville/U of A., and is pleased with his daughter’s choice to attend the school where he attended. This pod cast needs to be share widely for a lot of reasons.
Mike, you summarized my thoughts about this interview. And Martin was very clear that his teammates were great through the whole process, but the coaches couldn’t get past their stereotypes.
Been through there many times coming up to Lake Village, Greenville, McGhee and Arkansas City…. If we came through Lake Providence we went through Eudora I believe…. Usually at Christmas or 4th July … the majority of my mother’s family is from that part of Arkansas…. Of course Greenville is in Mississippi, but that’s where all the river boat workers caught the boat….it’s also home of the original Does eat place ….
That was a fabulous interview. He was eloquent and emotional. His daughter (as noted) is beautiful inside and out. She gave her father a gift that (I think) he will treasure.
The rumor swirling that night in the Fall of 74, was that Jerry Eckwood was going to play for the Shoats that game. Didn’t happen. This was 2 years after Freshmen were eligible to play varsity again. The TT boys played two future stars that night. Future all SWC QB Rodney Allison and future NY Giant RB Billy Taylor.
I suspect Martin’s lack of playing time during his short stay on the hill, had more to do with the prescence of veteran QB’s Mike Kirkland, Scott Bull and Mark Miller. I saw nothing out of him that night, that would indicate that he was ready to dislodge any of those guys. If he had stuck around through the 76 season, he probably would have gotten a shot. We went through about 5 QB’s that year. None of them could stay healthy.