Dalton Martin gets gang-tackled by girlfriend Cassie Neil.
Martin and mom Abbie. (Melissa Zimmerman-Losey photo)
Martin and Wolf teammate Wiley Hesslegrave (89). (Melissa Zimmerman-Losey photo)
Dalton Martin is at a crossroads.
The Coupeville High School freshman is a talented football player, son of a coach (Bob Martin), a quarterback used to leading his team onto the field. But now, betrayed by the violent nature of the game, his body may not allow him to step on the gridiron in uniform again.
Three concussions in two seasons have left him on the sidelines as basketball season begins, though he harbors hope he will be cleared to rejoin the Wolves after meeting with a neurologist at the end of November. Pulling on his football helmet again, however, seems to be a thing of the past.
“Both my parents and my doctor say that I’m not going to play any more football,” Martin said. “This still doesn’t keep my hopes down, though. There is always a chance.”
He might not want to speak to his mother, then.
“He is NEVER EVER EVER playing football again. He and his dad are under the impression that he can play if he gets better. That will not happen,” Abbie Martin said. “My heart is breaking for him, but his health is so much more important than ‘getting a letter’ in a sport.”
Martin’s first known concussion came in a game against King’s as an 8th grader. He then suffered back-to-back head traumas as a freshman.
“This season I received an additional concussion during the early part of the season, after I collided with two of the varsity players while playing defense against them,” Martin said. “I was out for a few weeks and returned ready to play against South Whidbey at a JV game and took a helmet to helmet hit followed by several lighter hits before I had to leave the game. I remember most of the game, but not everything.
“I do my homework and my school work perfectly fine,” he added. “The only bad part about it is the headaches.”
It has been a trying time for Martin, who has had to watch his classmates play on while he has been chained to the sidelines. Concussions are a tricky thing to evaluate or appreciate, with no casts or knee braces to offer an easy explanation to the casual observer.
For a player who first picked up the sport in fifth grade, football provided an outlet. Martin, who played youth football in Oak Harbor with fellow current Wolf and close friend Wiley Hesselgrave, could take out his aggression in the flow of the game.
“I love playing football because it is the only sport you actually get to unleash your anger without getting a foul called on you,” Martin said.
Once he’s medically cleared, he hopes to return to the hard court (“I’m a good basketball player, but not the best. My dad showed me some very good moves that I have been working on lately and I can’t wait to use them against other people”) and has other sports, such as track, to fall back on. He is also considering picking up swimming.
Through it all, through the triumph and the setbacks, Martin has kept things in perspective. A big fan of his welding class (“One of the classes that doesn’t give me a headache”), he has retained his sense of humor and realizes his parents want the best for him, even if that means bringing a premature end to his high school football days.
“Dalton is a funny kid who loves to joke around. He doesn’t care what other people think about him,” Martin said, in a bit of first-person reflection.
“My parents have really made a difference in my life,” he added. “If I didn’t have them to push me every day to get my work done and eat what I need to eat, then I wouldn’t be who I am today.”
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