I'm known around the newspaper as the guy who spends more time at the office than any other employee.
The running joke is they should put a cot in the sports department and I should legally declare my address as 519 Juliana Street.
Yet, I long ago realized that no matter how many hours I put in, I had one friend that I never could outwork and that was Larry Martin, who passed away last week at 58.
I got to know Larry when he ran the Parkersburg Country Club. He was supposed to be the golf professional, but he probably played less golf than any club pro I've ever met.
That's because he spent his time attending to every little detail in order to make sure those who patronized the country club had a first-class experience.
If something wasn't right, Larry made it right. He could take a disgruntled customer and make them his friend. I'm not sure I've ever met anyone with more friends than Martin, who was the biggest friend the junior golf community in the Mountain State ever will have.
He worked tirelessly to promote junior golf.
He conducted tournaments throughout the state. He managed to get The Greenbrier to conduct the youth championship, a huge selling point to the youngsters.
Larry was a shrewd businessman. He put the country club on solid financial footing at a time when many other private clubs were struggling for their survival.
Spending time with Larry was a pleasure. He was a story teller. He knew everybody and everybody knew him. When the country club would conduct a golf tournament, Martin would serve as the master of ceremonies at the awards banquet. He could say something humorous about every person in the room. If he happened to leave somebody out, they likely were disappointed.
There are two types of people in this world -those who are interested in the fleece and those who are interested in the flock.
Martin belonged to the latter group. He was a giver. He gave his time, his immense talent and his contagious personality to every person with whom he came into contact.
Although someone will take his place, there never will be another Larry Martin.
South finds foe
Parkersburg South still is scrambling to complete its 2012 football schedule.
The Patriots have filled one of two openings on their schedule with Linsly, a private boarding school located in Wheeling. That game will take place the second week of the high school season.
Linsly does not have a home field and usually plays its home games on Saturday afternoons but that is the weekend of the West Virginia University-Marshall University game and neither school wanted to go up against that contest.
Thus, the game will take place on Friday night at Bethany University.
Contact Dave Poe at dpoe@newsandsentinel.com
