By Jason Avery
News-Times Staff
For Jackson Martin, the word waste does not exist in his vocabulary.
Everything he does is not only done with a purpose, it is done with great tenacity.
From being a three-sport standout, to academic excellence, to helping others in need, the Smackover senior always takes on tasks head on.
“I never waste time,” Martin said. “I always tried to get my homework in and study as much as I could at school. I knew after school, I would always have some type of sports practice whether it was golf, baseball or football. Most of the time, I tried to get it in at school while I wasn’t doing anything sports related, just because after a long day at school and practice, you’re not really wanting to do any school work.”
Martin, who sports a 4.064 grade-point average and will play baseball at Henderson State, said his mother has been a great influence on him to succeed in the classroom.
“She’s always pushed me from a very young age,” Martin said. “She wanted me to use my potential to the fullest. Throughout elementary and high school, she would always ask me if I had homework, and if I did, if I needed help with it. She was always willing to go the extra distance to help me. She always put me first. Me being an only child, she felt like she needed to devote all of her time to me. I took it for granted when I was younger, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve really come to know that she did devote a lot of her time to me. It means a lot.
“When I was a junior, she started helping me with my college choices just because we didn’t want to be late in the whole college choice where I wasn’t able to apply for scholarships. We wanted to get that out of the way, and she helped me out a lot on that. She helped me with college choices and what days to go on visits to certain colleges. She did a lot for me. She wanted me to do whatever I wanted to do, but she helped me get my ducks in a row and she’s the reason I’m so organized as far as college and knowing what I want to be just because she was there every step of the way.”
Martin, who wants to major in biology, also hopes to follow in his mother’s footsteps by going into the medical profession.
“You can do a lot with that,” Martin said. “I’ve actually thought that if it all works out, I could graduate from Henderson with a biology degree and try to apply for med school. If that’s not the case, then I’d like to be a physician’s assistant. With a biology degree, if my future changes, there’s a lot of different jobs you can get.”
Although he is used to having to budget his time between sports and academics, Martin is eager for the challenge of having to do it in college.
“I’d much rather go through my four years of college and really grind through it and put myself through what it means to get that degree and live the rest of my life with a good job instead of halfway doing it through college and having a mediocre job,” Martin said. “I’m fine with going through college and really making it tough on myself.”
Martin’s athletic career at Smackover was interrupted between his sophomore and junior years when he suffered a broken arm, but the recovery process did not go as planned.
“I didn’t have surgery,” Martin said. “I had my arm in a cast, but I experienced pain in it throughout my junior year. Halfway through my junior year in baseball, it got to the point where I couldn’t even throw a baseball. All I did was DH the rest of the year. I went to Little Rock three or four times a month to get different opinions on whether I should have surgery or not, and I decided to have surgery in June of 2014.”
In many circumstances, an injury of that severity would put a damper on an athlete’s recruitment, but that didn’t turn out to be the case for Martin.
“It put me in a bad spot, but I was actually able to go to a Harding (University) showcase that day before I had surgery,” Martin said. “The coach there knew that and took that under consideration, and luckily, I was able to get an offer from Harding University. That’s really what started it. A bunch of other local schools started to contact me. I went on a visit to Henderson. They offered me, and I committed. I loved the atmosphere, and they have a really good science program there. I had already talked to the professor there before, and it felt like it was home to me.”
Martin also got plenty of help during his rehabilitation thanks to HOSA (Health Occupational Students of America), a club he is a member of.
Founded by Smackover athletic trainer Morgan McDaniel, the club is affiliated with the school’s sports medicine classes.
“Being with her helped me out, because I was able to get extra rehab while I was at school that I wasn’t getting when I was actually going to rehab,” Martin said. “She helped me a lot. There were days when I was upset about it, and there was nothing I could do about it. She helped me get through it. Being in class, I learned a lot about injuries, and having a little background knowledge about it helped me get through it. Before I had my injury, I really didn’t know much about rehab and everything that went into it. I learned about all the different kind of injuries and rehab protocols, knowing that it’s not going to be easy all the time helped me get through it.”
Martin also helped raise money with Change for Cure projects through HOSA, and as a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), the senior sprang into action after a powerful tornado left the communities of Vilonia and Mayflower devastated.
“It was last spring when the tornado hit,” Martin said. “Our FCA group was still new and we were still trying to find projects to do. It’s hard to do because everybody is so involved with athletics and other events. Luckily, coach (David) Preston found us an opportunity to go and serve the people of Vilonia and Mayflower.
“It was kind of a last-minute thing. We were going to raise money and give it to one of the families that was in most need. We went around asking for donations and he (Preston) helped us a lot with it.
“We raised a little over $5,000 in a week, which is crazy to do, because we weren’t very organized and we wanted to get up there as soon as possible. It was very humbling and an eye-opening experience. It makes you a lot more thankful for what you’ve accomplished and the blessings that you get.”
The event was personal for Martin, who is close friends with Mayflower baseball player Drew Duncan. Earlier this spring, Martin and the Bucks played Mayflower in Little Rock, and the senior said he has talked Griffin about the events of last year.
“We talked about it before,” Martin said. “He wasn’t one of the victims of the tornado, but he said it really impacted their school and community. It brought them a lot closer.”
Martin has also dabbled in business, having teamed with Logan Clark to run a lawn care business between his sophomore and junior year.
“We tried to raise a little extra money,” Martin said. “In between two-a-days during football season, we would go around and try to mow a few yards in the community. It actually worked out pretty good for us. We had a pretty good lawn care business. It never really thrived because we just didn’t have near as much time to go out and do it. We had set up flyers around town, and surprisingly, we got a few calls and we went to go work on a few yards. It was fun.”
In the rare moments that Martin has to relax, he retreats to the outdoors.
“My grandfather would take me hunting and fishing to all of the local lakes,” Martin said. “That’s really where our bond started. It’s a way to get away from sports. I’ve fished a lot. In my downtime, me and my friends like to go fish. Sometimes you need time to relax, and that’s really my time to relax.”
During his career at Smackover, Martin has been on teams that have been the state runner-up twice and state semifinalists on two other occasions.
Although he graduates without a state championship ring, the success Martin and his fellow seniors have enjoyed during their careers will leave a lasting legacy that won’t be soon forgotten.
“We were never able to win a state championship, and that hurts,” Martin said. “I see my career at Smackover as a success. My main goal was to influence others and be the best leader I could be. Even though we weren’t able to win a state championship, I still want others to look back and remember us from other classes that came through.”