Tom Martinez was an American football coach. He coached at the College of San Mateo until 2005, when he retired due to health concerns. He coached at the College of San Mateo after Bill Walsh and John Madden. The College of San Mateo Football program traditionally has a very high ranking team and draws players from all over the country. NFL alumni John Madden, of the Oakland Raiders and Bill Walsh, of the San Francisco 49ers both played and coached at the College of San Mateo early in their careers. Bill Walsh is claimed to be the best NFL coach ever and later retired from the 49ers to become the athletic director at Stanford University.. Prior to Martinez' death, he was inducted into the College of San Mateo Sports Hall of Fame. Many of his former College of San Mateo Football Players remember him as taking the approach of a military drill sergeant type to coaching at the college level. Martinez had a passion for conducted private coaching sessions with quarterbacks of all ages and from all around the country.
Training career
With more than 1,400 career victories, Martinez was the most successful community college coach in the history of California and perhaps the nation. At College of San Mateo, he was head football coach for five years and offensive coordinator many years after. He was the 1995 California Community Coach of the Year, a member of the San Mateo Hall of Fame, and a member of the State Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. He also holds numerous other honorary posts.
Martinez also worked out JaMarcus Russell prior to the 2007 NFL Draft. Martinez was interviewed by the Oakland Raiders as a candidate for their quarterbacks coach position. Martinez blames the Raiders' coaches for all but ruining Russell. "He was never wanted there by any of the coaches," Martinez told The New York Times. "The only one who wanted him there was Al Davis, he told them to draft him. He was the epitome of an Al Davis quarterback."
On June 12, 2011, Martinez announced on his Facebook page that he was given roughly one month to live due to diabetes and cancer. He was seeking an organ donor up until his death. On January 27, 2012, Patriots' Tom Brady's efforts on MatchingDonors.com resulted in over 300 potential organ donors to step forward to be tested to see if they were a match to save Tom Martinez' life.
Death
On February 21, 2012, Martinez died after suffering a heart attack during dialysis on his 66th birthday. Three weeks before his death Tom created the Tom Martinez Goal Line Fund www.TheTomMartinezGoalLineFund.com to help those people needing organ transplants through MatchingDonors.com. Tom said "I’m thrilled that even if I can’t be saved at least the donors and awareness we brought to MatchingDonors.com will save many other lives".
