I had to post and comment on this.  This is one great article that was printed in the Du Quoin Evening Call.  Not every local publication has a pulse on the town that they cover, but this article is dead-on.

 Timing Perfect For Al Martin Hall of Fame Honors

The timing for Friday's naming of Du Quoin head football coach Al Martin to the Illinois Coaches Association Hall of Fame is perfect for two reasons.

1.) The 2007 season is a milestone. It marked coach Martin's 20th year as head coach of the Indians and his 200th win (actually finishing the 2007 with a lifetime record of 203-40), unprecedented in Illinois High School football, and 2.) the fact that this was a non-state title finalist year allows us to celebrate the life of the man instead of a team.

Martin was automatically nominated for the honor by virtue of having reached the 200-win mark will an active coach.

I admit to being the last person to consider myself among the inner circles of Du Quoin High School athletics--though a fan--but as newspaper publisher I look out over the community and I know what quality looks like.

And, I know Mr. Martin's lifetime commitment to young people warrants this selection to the Illinois Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

This is not just about the son of a carpenter and postal worker or about Martin himself--an educator and coach. It's about us.

It's about a town which on any given day can go to a special education classroom or on any given Friday night or Saturday afternoon can go to Van Metre Field and find a hero in a ball cap. Allen Martin is a man of family. A man of faith. A man for whom the simplest values like hard work, integrity, loyalty and sincerity have suddenly become the longing of a town and a country.

The things that are old--things like patriotism, love of God, believing that the strong should hold hands with the weak--must be made new again. They are the values of the man we simply call “Al.”

Martin, born May 2, 1954 in Du Quoin, attended Sacred Heart School where his values were galvanized by the Catholic discipline. He attended Du Quoin High School, was an academic success, and during an early athletic career had the pleasure of playing alongside Don Stanhouse on a baseball team that went to state.

Martin and teammates had a knack for turning the darkest hour into the finest hour, playing on the 1970 basketball team picked as last in the conference, but wound up not only winning the conference but going onto sectional.

He was accepted at Murray State University and received his degree in special education and has embraced a teaching philosophy that all young people are special. His challenge and his success is in finding the key to unlocking those gifts. He raises them up as individuals, students and players. He raises them up as teams. He raises those teams up as state champions.

After graduation from Murray State, Allen took his first teaching job at Grayville High School and in 1977 he accepted a position in the nearby Christopher High School, where he taught for two years. He came to Du Quoin in 1979 to become teacher and coach, and to accept the summer position of swimming pool manager. It was one of the most fulfilling assignments of his life. Coach Martin remained as coach, but left education long enough to become part of Perry County's once-great coal mining industry.

When the "black gold" of Southern Illinois mining disappeared he returned to education, teaching in Carbondale for a year. This star DHS athlete would come back to us as coach, educator and role model in 1988. For all of us, he made the right decision.

The extraordinary character in the Martin gene pool exists in wife Sharon-- also a special education teacher-- and with his three sons--Zeb, a Colorado construction worker and sons Joel and Simon, both veterans of the United States Marine Corp. Joel completed firefighting school in San Diego. Simon graduated from SIU on the GI bill and began working for an American technology leader--Boeing Corp.

At this place in time, Coach Martin owns two Illinois High School state championship titles in 1988 and again in 1992 along with 14 semi-final appearances and an unblemished record of 20 straight playoff appearances. His work as track coach gave Du Quoin High School its best season in memory in 2007.

He is not only a man for all seasons, but a man whose character should inspire us all.