Jerry Martin
A Columbia native and four-sport star athlete
at Olympia High School,
Martin earned athlete-of-the- year honors by the Columbia Record and made all-state
in football and basketball. He went on the Spartanburg Junior
College and Furman University
and is in both schools’ halls of fame. Martin starred in baseball and basketball at Furman. As a Paladins’ senior
in 1971, he scored 36 points in a Southern Conference Tournament game and earned MVP honors. He went on to play 11 seasons
as a Major League Baseball outfielder, compiling a .251 career batting average and a .982 fielding average . His best years
came with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1978 (.271 BA, 9 HRs, 36 RBI), and with the Chicago Cubs in 1979 (.272, 19 HRs, 73
RBI) and 1980 (.227, 23 HRs, 73 RBI). In 2000, The State newspaper ranked Martin the eighth-best player to come out of South Carolina. Martin is in his 18th season as a coach
in the Phillies minor league system.
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