By Scott Herpst
Walker County Messenger
Rossville High School graduate and longtime north Georgia sports media personality Marvin "Stump" Martin officially took office as Director of Athletics for the city of Rossville on Jan. 1.
Martin, 55, will oversee every form of athletics and recreation in the city of Rossville.
"I want to thank Mayor Johnny Baker, Rick Buff and the rest of the Rossville City Council for giving me this opportunity," Martin said. "Rossville is a little behind the times in keeping up with the athletics in other cities and counties in the area and the state, but we’re going to get it back."
Martin, a 1971 graduate of Rossville, began coaching youth sports in 1968. He has continued to coach kids of all ages in various sports the past 40 years.
"Working with kids has kept me young," said Martin, who has hosted a local television sports show in the area for the last 25 years. "Now, I get to work with kids on a daily basis. God’s really blessed me."
Baker said the city was serious about getting its athletics back to the level it achieved years ago.
"We’ve had a well-run organization, but as a city we’ve kind of taken the easy way out and not gotten involved," he explained. "But the council wants to get back in it and we all agreed that Stump was the guy to take the department to the next level.
"He’s a good promoter and he’ll make good use of the facilities in place and expand on them. The city and the area are growing and we want to capitalize on it. We’re fortunate to be able to bring him in and we’re going to support him and let him work."
Baker added that the city wants to be able to cater to the needs of its growing population.
"We want every child to be involved in something positive 12 months out of the year," he said. "We feel good that we’ll be able to do it."
Martin said he plans to use facilities, such as the Rossville City Park, Hutcheson Memorial Field and the old Rossville High gym, to bring the city’s athletics back to life.
"This city was built on athletics and used to have state championship teams," he said. "I want to see it that way again. We have the facilities in place and the city has made a commitment. If anyone wants to beat Rossville in anything, they better do it now."
Martin said that he wants to have the area’s best programs for baseball, softball, football, basketball and soccer and that multiple groups have already expressed interest about holding tournaments and events in the city.
"We’re going to make it exciting to come to Rossville," he said. "We’re going to strive to have the best facilities, the best concessions and the nicest people running them."
Martin said getting to run Rossville’s athletics held special meaning for him because of his relationship with the late Walt Lauter, who headed up the department for many years.
"When I was a kid I followed Walt around all the time every day," he explained. "To get to do the same thing he did with the same facilities he used is very sentimental for me and very special."
Martin thanked Frank Seabolt and Scott Murdoch at Boynton for helping him "get up to speed on how things run" and former Rossville Youth Association president Carthell Rogers for his efforts.
"I truly appreciate everything Carthell did," Martin added. "I wanted him to stay on with us, but it just didn’t work out."
Mayor Johnny Baker was recently elected to the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) board of directors during its annual meeting in Savannah.
