Lee Martin leaves Bethel, takes position to help revive Newport News high school sports
Decades of state track and field dominance by Newport News, Huntington and Menchville high schools highlight the storied history of prep sports in Newport News.
Newport News High reached the boys basketball state championship game 13 times in 28 seasons in the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, led by legendary coach Julie Conn and a succession of future Division I coaches, including Hall of Famer Lefty Driesell. The dusty football field at Warwick produced Green Bay Packers Hall of Famer Henry Jordan and game-changing quarterback Michael Vick.
But the decline in Newport News high school athletics has been so pronounced of late that state indoor and outdoor track and field titles by Heritage’s girls and Menchville’s girls basketball crown this school year ended a 13-year championship drought. To their credit, city school administrators sprung to action even before Heritage sprinter Madison Whyte and Menchville basketball star Amari Smith spearheaded those successes.
The city has created a Director of Student Athletics position to which it has hired Lee Martin, the athletic director at Hampton schools Kecoughtan and Bethel the past 17 years.
In addition to working with athletic directors to improve sports at Denbigh, Heritage, Menchville, Warwick and Woodside high schools, Martin said one of his first tasks is organizing the introduction of athletics to the city’s five middle schools: Crittenden, Hines, Gildersleeve, Passage and Ella Fitzgerald.
“I’m not sure at this point which sports will be rolled out this year,” said Martin, who will also supervise behind-the-wheel driver’s education in Newport News. “The initial programs will be football, wrestling, boys and girls soccer, and cheerleading.”
Warwick football coach Corey Hairston said middle school football should make his high school program, and the other four in Newport News, better.
“I think it will be real beneficial,” he said. “I played junior high football (in Ohio) for a school directly connected to a high school, which helped build the program at that high school.
“We have enough middle schools where we can connect (the athletic programs) directly to a high school, and that would build up the program for each high school.
“It’s not like we’re reinventing the wheel, especially with the Bay Rivers District schools (in York County, Williamsburg/James City County and New Kent) and teams on the Southside regularly playing middle school football.”
Although he has spent much of his professional career in Hampton, Martin, 52, brings a sense of pride to his new position in Newport News. He played basketball in the 1980s for Dennis Koutoufas at Denbigh High, where he helped the Patriots upset J.R. Reid and Kempsville and Alonzo Mourning and Indian River to reach a region final.
He was then a teammate of future NBA player Lamont Strothers at Christopher Newport University, where he majored in health and physical education.
“I’m really excited to come back and lay my footprint down, and have a hand in developing these programs and trying to bring more state championships back to Newport News Public Schools,” Martin said. “I think I can use my experience to work with athletic directors, with ideas and some connections, to help them take their programs to the next level.”
Martin said he will miss Bethel and, in particular, the close working relationship he had with principal Ralph Saunders. But he lives in the Denbigh area and considers himself a Newport News guy, so he feels like he’s “coming home” career-wise and is ready to help implement the changes.
“This is a discussion that’s been going on for at least the past year,” he said of Newport News’ introduction of middle school sports. “They want to have feeder programs, which we feel will help the junior-varsity programs where the numbers have gone down at some schools.
“That will help develop the varsity programs.”
