Gwinnett Braves Host Hall of Fame Inductees

The second annual Gwinnett County Sports Hall of Fame Day at sponsored by the Gwinnett County Public Schools Foundation honored six former Gwinnett County athletes and coaches. The Inductees were Mary Ellen Blanchard of Norcross, Al & Red Ivy of Norcross, George Rogers of Duluth, Ted Roof and Eddie Martin of Lawrenceville. Roof and Martin both played at and went on to outstanding coaching careers. Roof, who is currently the defensive coordinator at Auburn and Eddie Martin, who presently is the head boys basketball coach at Greater Atlanta Christian have numerous achievements and accolades to their credit.

Roof began as an assistant at Georgia Tech where he starred as a player in the early to mid 80's. As a star outside linebacker, Roof holds many records and once had 25 tackles in one game, which is currently second in school history. He was the head coach at Duke University and now is the defensive coordinator for Auburn Tigers, who won the BCS Title in January.

Martin played at Central Gwinnett and averaged 27 points per game leading the county in 1974 and winning player of the year for the state. "Eddie was an offensive player all the way," said Gwinnett County Athletic Director Mike Emery. "When he walked in the gym he was open he wanted to shoot it."

After playing college in Alabama, Martin coached Brookwood to over 300 wins and then went on to coach at Norcross and win 3-straight AAAAA state titles from 2006-08. His team was runner-up in 2005 finishing 31-1. He now coaches at Greater Atlanta Christian and has won the last two state AA titles 2010-2011. "The first thing I want to do is thank the foundation for making this an event. It's a big deal for Gwinnett County," Martin said. "George (Duluth Hall of Fame inductee George Rogers) talked about the ring and everything being from Gwinnett County. I grew up here. I've lived in Gwinnett County all my life. All my playing days. I was a pretty good player till I look around and see all these folks." Martin went on to say how proud he was and how supportive his family is. "I was just a peon," Martin said jokingly. "All I was was a player. You become successful when you surround yourself with good people. When I was a player, I had a good coach. Joe McElvy I appreciate everything he did for me as a player. Then (as a coach) I was surrounded by good players." Martin currently has three players he has coached playing in the NBA; Al Farouq-Aminu with the Los Angeles Clippers, Gani Lawal with the Phoenix Suns and Jodi Meeks with the Philadelphia 76ers. "That's what I try to do as a coach," Martin said. "Surround myself with good assistant coaches which I try to do, surround myself with good players. I'm not a genious but if you don't have good players you don't win. I've been very blessed in regard to be able to do that." Martin picked up his 600th career coaching victory Feb. 11, 2011 while coaching the Spartans on their way to their second straight state title.

Roof also was proud and complimentary of the Foundation and being a part of Gwinnett County's Sports Hall of Fame. "I was really really blessed to have a mother and a father and a brother to be supportive at everything I did," Roof said. "If we were doing it, they were there. Now being a coach, I go into so many schools where that's not the norm any more. That's the exception which is really sad. I was very blessed to be part of this family. The group of coaches and teammates that I had to be around I can't express to you how greatful I am. As the years click on  you realize the impact they had on my life. They weren't just teaching me about football, they were teaching me about life."

In the game itself, Scranton Wilkes-Barre scored two runs in the eighth and three in the tenth to come from behind and defeat Gwinnett Braves 6-3.

Jordan Schafer had a 2-run home run in the fifth inning and Ed Lucas hit a solo shot in the sixth inning but again the bullpen squandered the 3-1 lead as Scranton tied it at 3-3 on two infield singles, two walks and an error.

Scranton scored two in the eighth with two infield singles, two walks and an error. In the tenth Scranton scored all three runs after two outs. P.J. Pilittere singled in one run, Greg Olson's grounder was booted by shortstop Lucas and Kevin Russo singled in the third run. Kevin Whelan came on for the save. Anthony Varvarro (0-3) took the loss. Gwinnett is now 14-10 and will play Scranton again Monday at 7 p.m.

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