Billy Martin knew it was time.
After spending the last 42 years of his life coaching high school and college basketball, including the last 19 years patrolling the sidelines at Reynolds, Martin retired at the end of the season.
“Everyone I talked to told me the same thing,” Martin said. “You just know when it’s time. I retired from teaching last year after the season but I knew I wanted to continue coaching. I had to stay away for six months and that didn’t help. I missed being in the gym with the kids.
But I finally came to the decision around Christmas time. A lot of family was in town and we were sitting around talking and I told them that I think this is it for me. And that was hard to do. But I just knew it was the right time.”
Martin steps away after compiling 260 wins at Reynolds, the last of which was an upset of Davie County, the No. 2 seed in the Central Piedmont 4-A Conference tournament, on the War Eagles’ home court, last month.
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Martin guided the Demons to three regular season conference titles, three conference tournament championships, two Frank Spencer titles and 15 playoff appearances.
He spent his first 21 years in coaching at West Montgomery before joining the staff of David Henderson, a former Duke standout, at Delaware from 2000-05.
Filling big shoes
Martin came to Reynolds with some big shoes to fill, following the tenure of Howard West.
West coached at Reynolds from 1988-2005 and won three straight NCHSAA 4-A state championships with the Demons from 2000-2002 and lost in the title game in 2004 before starting the program at Reagan when the school opened.
“Billy came in there and kept the ball moving after Coach West left,” said Monty Gray, who is the current boys coach at East Forsyth.
Gray was the girls coach at Reynolds from 2006-10 and worked closely with Martin during their time together.
“We connected really well when I became the girls coach there,” Gray said. “I really liked how hard his teams played. I used to sit in on his practices to see how he did things and we would bounce things off of each other. He’s not just a friend, but also a mentor. He always did things with class. And even when we have coached against each other, it was all love. I hate to see him leave because he’s been so good in the community since he arrived.”
Martin grew up around sports in Montgomery County and gravitated towards basketball.
He played at East Montgomery and later at Chowan and UNC Wilmington alongside his twin brother, Bobby.
When Art Paschal, one of his college teammates, became the principal at Reynolds in 2005, he called his friend to see if he would be interested in returning to the high school coaching ranks.
“It was really just circumstantial about me getting the job,” Martin said. “My wife had just lost her father and about a week later, I lost mine. And we had decided we wanted to get back to North Carolina at that point to be closer to our families when Dr. Paschal called me and offered me the job.”
Martin said he knew about Reynolds because of a few players he had recruited while he was at Delaware who played for West.
“I also called Alred Poe (the longtime coach at Carver) and talked to him about it because we knew each other,” Martin said. “I knew it was a great program with lots of history and I knew expectations were going to be high, especially coming in after Coach West, who had been so successful. I learned really quickly how competitive the conference was and that there were a lot of really good coaches.”
Honoring his brother
Martin said that he knew he wanted to become a coach from an early age.
“Coaches always took an interest in my brother and me,” Martin said. “Billy Lee (who went on the coach at Campbell) was my high school coach. Steve Martin came in after he left. My college coaches, Mel Gibson and Calvin Bailey, I still stay in touch with them until this day. The more I was around them, the more I knew I wanted to be a coach when I was done playing.”
He got his first opportunity as the junior varsity coach at West Montgomery in 1979. The next year, the varsity job at his alma mater, East Montgomery, opened up and he jumped at the chance.
Martin said he and his brother always wanted to coach together one day, but they settled for coaching against east other regularly when Bobby became the head coach at West Montgomery in 1985.
“That was one of the biggest things that drove us, coaching together some day,” Martin said. “We just never got that opportunity.”
Billy Martin was at West Montgomery on a Tuesday night in early December of 1997 to scout his brother’s team for their upcoming game that Friday night.
“I ended up leaving with about two or three minutes to go because they had a big lead and the game was over,” Martin said, his voice trailing off. “I think it’s because I just wasn’t meant to be there to see it happen.”
Not long after Martin left the gym to head home, Bobby collapsed on the court and was later pronounced dead at the hospital. He was 41 years old.
“I had just gotten home, and this was before cell phones, and a neighbor came and knocked on the door and told me I needed to get to the hospital,” Martin said. “By the time I got there, he was gone. One thing that has kept me going since he died is knowing that if he were still here, he’d still be doing the same thing. The worst part was not having him to confide in any more, which we used to do all the time.”
For the last 12 seasons, Martin has organized the Bobby Martin Classic to honor his brother and help fund a scholarship for a student at West Montgomery.
“We used to have it at West Montgomery and a few years ago, our AD, Brad Fisher, suggested we move it to Reynolds,” Martin said. “And I can’t thank him enough for allowing us that opportunity. The foundation has done well. I hope that the event continues in some capacity. It gives us the avenue to do something in his name back home. He really loved those kids.”
Tributes from fellow coaches
Martin said that as news of his retirement began to filter out, he was shocked to hear from so many people he has come across during his career.
“I didn’t really know I was having that kind of impact,” he said with a laugh. “It’s honestly pretty overwhelming with everyone I’ve heard from–coaches, former players, people from my hometown. I’m not one of those coaches who looks back on individual accolades. I just enjoy working with the kids who have the same passion for the game as I have. That’s why I do it.”
One of Martin’s former players, Ian Henderson, is one of those. Henderson graduated from Reynolds in 2018 and is now the JV coach for the Demons.
“Coach Martin is the reason I came to Reynolds,” Henderson said. “I attended the games when I was in middle school because my sister was in school there and just really liked what I saw out of his teams. I’ve blessed to have Coach Martin around pretty much my entire basketball career. He is the main reason for my success. It was the reason I jumped at the chance to come back here and be on the coaching staff when I got the opportunity. I’m happy for him. This is time to celebrate him for what he has done.”
Henderson said that his favorite memory with Martin was winning a game at Mount Tabor and the celebration in the locker room after the game.
“I just remember there was a lot of water flying around and he was right in the middle of all of it,” Henderson said. “We have a picture of it and we still talk about that all the time.”
Andy Muse, the longtime coach at Mount Tabor, said that he always knew his team would face a stiff challenge when they played Reynolds.
“You always had to be prepared when you played Reynolds,” Muse said. “He was always in a gym scouting other teams. He’s a great coach but he’s a better person. He was always a gentleman when we saw each other off the court. Everyone in our conference respects him as a person and as a coach. He’s high-class and high-character. We’ve had a tremendous rivalry between Mount Tabor and Reynolds and he’s got all the respect from me.”
Marlon Brim, the coach at West Forsyth, has enjoyed a close relationship with Martin during his career.
“He’s like a big brother to me and I appreciate all he has done for basketball in this area,” Brim said. “He came in and built his own standard for success for that program, which was hard to do to step into the shoes of Howard West. But Billy had a great impact with the way he coached and the way he led that team every year. I hate to see him go but at the same time, I’m happy for him.”
Martin said that he’ll miss the relationships with his players the most and arriving to the gym on game days.
“When you come in here and our gym is packed, it’s an unbelievable atmosphere for high school basketball,” he said. “My wife is concerned I might become a couch potato, but I’ll find something to do. I know I’ll play a lot more golf. But at the end of October (when practice starts), I’ll probably be somewhere far away from Winston-Salem on a trip so I don’t get the itch to go to a gym.”