In a terrifying twist, Max Martin lay on his back against an opponent he couldn’t retaliate against.
Martin, a Great Bridge High senior and one of the state’s best pound-for-pound wrestlers, makes most matches look pedestrian, diving in for efficient takedowns and quick pins.
However, last February, Martin had no answers. Nor, for a time, did his doctors.
“The pain in his chest was like his chest was exploding,” Great Bridge coach, and Max’s father, Steve Martin said.
The hospital bed became home as Martin floated in and out of consciousness as medications worked to quell the hurt. Meanwhile, scores of doctors and disease experts crowded the room, searching for solutions.
“I don’t think he knew at the time how bad it was,” Steve Martin said. “And it was never told.”
Billy Martin defined so much of what current wrestling has become. He won 21 state titles in 22 seasons with Granby High from 1949 to 1970 and founded the “Granby system” of wrestling that’s still taught around the country by his son Steve and others.
Steve and his brother Wayne Martin morphed Great Bridge into a powerhouse. Beginning with Wayne in the 1980s and through Steve in the ’90s and 2000s, the Wildcats won 18 state championships. Steve then coached Old Dominion for 16 years before returning to Great Bridge this season.
When Max was born, the youngest and only boy of four children, Steve Martin understood the task ahead.
“When we knew it was gonna be a boy, I thought if he wrestled, he would have some heavy shoes to fill,” Steve Martin said.
Max didn’t feel the pressure at first. Wrestling was mainly something his dad coached, then at ODU, and something Max only dabbled in occasionally. He grew up around collegiate wrestlers and overheard the recruiting battles fought by his dad.
In sixth grade Max played football, but his genes were hard to ignore.
“My dad and uncle look at me,” Max said, “and go, ‘What are you doing? You can’t play football.’ I’m like, ‘Why not?’ ‘They’re like, ‘You’re way too small. This is not gonna work.’ I was like, ‘Maybe you’re right.'”
Martin spent his middle school years learning technique from his uncle as his father was busy coaching ODU — a job Steve admits was a 24/7 commitment.
As a high school freshman, Martin found success, albeit with a shaky mental fortitude. He fought against his family legacy like swimming against a rip current.
“I had a lot of things in my head going on,” Martin said, “like I need to do this and perform a certain way because I had the stigma of the last name.”
Wins, losses and rankings all weighed heavily on Max, and he lost in the state final. He had missed his chance to add his name to the wall of state champions in Great Bridge’s wrestling room.
“I went behind the bleachers at Robinson High School and I was bawling my eyes out, this little freshman kid,” Martin said. “All I wanted to do was get my name on the wall and I couldn’t do it that year. (Former Great Bridge head coach Matt) Small looked at me and said, ‘Remember this moment right now. Remember how bad you feel right now and remember what you want. Keep your goals in mind.'”
Max also talked with his dad about expectations.
“We had a conversation before,” Steve Martin said, “and I’m like, this is something you need to embrace or it’s gonna crush you. Your last name’s your last name. You ain’t running away from that. If you wanna do this sport, people will expect perfection or excellence and that’s how it’s gonna be, whether you like it or not. I think he rose up to that challenge.”
The day after his state runner-up finish, Max began his workout regimen. Becoming a state champion still remained the goal, but with a renewed focus and an embracement of what it meant to be a Martin.
“I wrote it down on my wall and put a paper on my mirror that said I’m gonna be a state champ,” Max said.
He achieved that dream a year later as a sophomore, hand raised in the state championship.
“It’s still to this day the best feeling of my life,” Max said. “I remember I ran out of that room straight into the hallway and I was screaming, ‘Let’s go!’ I walked down the hallway and I turn around and see (my dad) right there and he was bawling his eyes out, and trust me, I’ve never seen him do that before. But he was crying like a little girl, I’ll tell you that, and he does not cry. I saw that and I knew that I did something special.”
Legacies and state titles faded when a sharp pain began in Martin’s chest during his junior year.
The high school season was canceled due to the pandemic, so Martin could only compete in club tournaments. He tore his meniscus at a February tournament and needed surgery.
“I was in bed right before surgery and the doctor was asking about my chest,” Max said, “and I was like, ‘Yeah, there’s a pressure there. I don’t know what it is. It feels weird,’ but I thought nothing of it.”
Pain increased in the days following the surgery, until it became unbearable early one morning alongside a fever.
“I felt like I was having a heart attack,” Max said. “It hurt so bad. I said you have to take me to the emergency room right now. I was crying and I usually don’t do that.”
An initial scan revealed a broken sternum, and Martin was sent home with pain medication. His fever increased the next two days to 104 degrees, and again he went to the hospital.
This time, a second X-ray showed no broken sternum and doctors thought he had COVID-19. Twenty-four hours later, Martin’s fever hit 106.
“I knew it was real when eight people walk in the room,” Steve Martin said. “Two infectious disease guys, the person controlling the room, the head of the unit coming in, another person coming in.”
Doctors finally identified a staph infection beside his rib and under his sternum and began antibiotic trials.
“There was a 72-hour period where it was kind of sketchy,” Steve Martin said. “They came in and were talking about cutting open his chest to drain it. That was the part that was scary because you’re cutting open some kid’s chest. But then the antibody kicked in.”
Max Martin’s hospital stay lasted eight days.
“It was eight days straight of agonizing pain, so I’d be sitting in there and I didn’t know what to do,” Max said. “I’d be up almost every night. I couldn’t go to sleep unless I was on some sort of medicine. All I wanted to do was get out.”
After being released, Martin required another two weeks of a PICC line and an additional few weeks of heavy-dose medication. By May, Martin could finally return to wrestling.
Endurance was a problem initially, and Martin didn’t feel normal until the fall right before his senior season began.
He’s since dominated competition in the area and state while finding success in national-level tournaments. He committed to North Carolina, a school he visited annually with his maternal grandfather since childhood.
“That place was always home to me,” Max said.
Great Bridge completed a wire-to-wire run as the No. 1 team in Hampton Roads, and while a second state title is an obvious goal, Martin wants to supplement that with a team state championship. Great Bridge is a heavy favorite in the Class 6 Region A tournament Friday at Churchland.
“The biggest thing is to get a team (state) title,” said Max, ranked No. 1 in Hampton Roads at 120 pounds. “Last year it got ripped from us (because of the canceled season). Through all the stuff we’ve been through this year with the injuries, I wouldn’t wanna go out with this team without a title.”
Any insecurities about meeting the Martin standard dissolved and have been replaced by complete confidence.
“I know that I’m the best wrestler in the state of Virginia when I step on the mat,” Martin said. “Any last name or any pressure on me is completely gone.”
Ray Nimmo, ray.nimmo@pilotonline.com
