My tribute to former KU standout and NBA player Brian Martin

 

I am still shocked over the death of Brian Martin. I actually didn’t know Brian had passed until I googled his name recently and saw his obituary. I was deeply saddened and devastated. He died on Aug. 15, 2025 at age 62 from complications of a stroke. It seems like just yesterday when I interviewed Brian for our wonderful Where Are They Now? story in 2000. He was full of life, full of great memories, full of funny stories. It was pure joy talking to him. We were Facebook friends until I deleted my account in 2021 after my dad passed. Brian also endorsed me on LinkedIn several years ago. In addition to my interview with him for Where Are They Now?, I talked to Brian in Allen Fieldhouse about his high school rival and former Jayhawk shooting star Ricky Ross. Brian gave me some great insight into Ricky’s high school prowess and his thoughts on why Ricky never played a second in the NBA. Here’s how Brian endorsed me on LinkedIn, which I am forever grateful:

 

"I have been interviewed by David on a couple of occasions and found him to be a professional in every sense of the word. As a writer, he has the ability to make the interview feel like a normal conversation and then portray it perfectly into a story that grabs people's interest. In my experience working with David, he always uses the quotes in the perfect context and always made me feel good about how I was portrayed. I would absolutely work with David again if the opportunity ever presented itself."--Brian Martin, former KU basketball standout and NBA player, on Aug. 27, 2014.

 

That was so kind of Brian to write. We stayed in touch over the years, and when I posted something on Ron Kellogg on LinkedIn over a year ago, Brian wrote something like: “I played with Ronnie for two years at KU. If there was a 3-point line, he would have scored 50.” That might not have been the complete direct quote, but it was something along those lines. Brian was deeply committed to his family, his faith, and loved KU basketball passionately. 

 

Here is what his obit read: 

Brian L. Martin, 62, Business Development with Equity Bank, passed away Friday, August 15, 2025.

Memorial Service will be at 11:00 am, Friday, August 22, 2025, at Ridgepoint Church. Services will be live streamed and available for viewing by clicking the “Watch” button below.

Brian played basketball at KU from 1981-1984. He had a 10 year professional career including the NBA, CBA, and European leagues. He continued to be an avid KU fan. He enjoyed playing golf and taking care of his yard, but his favorite thing was spending time with his family and always supporting them in anything they did.

Brian was a former member of the Wichita Rotary Club and looked forward to his Men’s Bible Study each week. He will be remembered for his generosity, faith, and leadership.

Brian is preceded in death by his parents, Malty and Wanda Sue Martin. He is survived by his wife, Jodi Martin; daughters, Alissa (Erik) Kusnerus, Emily Martin; son, Alex (Shellby) Martin; sister, Debbie Bush; brother, Keith (Janis) Martin; grandchildren, Braylon Martin, Aiden Kusnerus, and Ella Kusnerus.

Memorials have been established with: Victory in the Valley, 3755 East Douglas, Wichita, Kansas 67218 and Children’s Mercy, 2401 Gillham Road, Kansas City, Missouri 64108.

Services in care of Downing & Lahey Mortuary – West Chapel.

My prayers go out to his lovely wife, Jodi, and Brian’s entire family. I feel so bad that I’m late in posting my tribute to Brian, but I just somehow missed the news when he passed. I fondly recall playing in a pickup game with Brian and his college roommate Mark Ewing at Robinson Gym around 1987 or 88 as I recall, somewhere around then. We were all on the same team and I remember Brian at 6-foot-9 leading a fast break and passing to me. I remember he was very humble and kind.

Brian made a profound difference on people’s lives, including mine. Maya Angelou said it best: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Brian, I do remember what you said, but above all, I remember how you made me feel good about myself, that I was always very important, you made me feel very special and your spirit lives eternally. Rest in Peace my friend!

 

Here is that wonderful Where Are They Now? story on the great Brian Martin in Jayhawk Insider, who never saw a blocked shot he didn’t like. I know you’re now blocking lots of shots in Heaven and bringing a ton of smiles to people’s faces.

By David Garfield

Brian Martin never dreamed as a child growing up in Wichita that he’d someday play in the NBA, hold Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to one-of-four shooting, eat nachos with jack Nicholson at the Forum in Los Angeles, or travel around the world playing professional basketball.

But he did.

The former Kansas basketball player never really cared much for the game until his sophomore year in high school, when he grew to 6-foot-5. However, by the summer after his junior year, Martin became a national name at the prestigious Five-Star basketball camp.

“I dove for a loose ball in the all-star game and landed in Bob Hill’s (Kansas assistant coach) lap,” Martin said. “The first time I met Bob Hill, he told me that the coach sitting next to him said, ‘You guys are going to be pretty lucky if you can get that guy out of Kansas.’ He goes, ‘Who is he?’ ‘That’s Brian Martin from Wichita.’”

Martin, who had academic difficulties in high school, actually went to Hutchinson Community College for one year before embarking on his KU career. He was basically a 6-foot-9 role player for three years backing up guys like Kelly Knight and Greg Dreiling. As a senior, however, he noticed some NBA scouts like George Irvine of the Indiana Pacers coming to practice late in the year.

“Coach (Larry) Brown said they were looking at me,” Martin recalled. “It really surprised me.”

After KU lost to Wake Forest in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Indiana eventually selected Martin in the ninth round of the NBA Draft. He was cut just three days into rookie free-agent camp. However, like his high school coach, Brown, and former KU coach Ted Owens, Irvine saw a raw shot-blocking talent who just needed some seasoning and motivation. He told Martin to go to the CBA and “work on your game and see if you got a chance to play, because I really think you do.”

Martin played for Tampa Bay Thrillers’ coach Eric Musselman, a master motivator whom the ex-Jayhawk called the “most eccentric, different coach I’ve ever played for" (he once gave death threats to an opposing player during the CBA championship).

"He said, ‘You’re not going to play at first, but bide your time, and by the time the playoffs start, you’ll probably be starting,'" Martin remembered.

Sure enough, Martin was in the staring lineup six games before the playoffs began. All he did was help lead the Thrillers to the CBA championship, and wound up as the leading shot blocker and rebounder in the playoffs.

“It must have been the (career) turnaround,” Martin said.

Martin followed his stellar CBA playoffs by making the Seattle Supersonics’ opening-day roster the following season.

“That was obviously a dream come true,” he said.

Martin was with Seattle for a month before being released and sent back to Tampa Bay. And then, the Portland Trail Blazers picked him up in January. Martin, who finished the season in Portland, will never forget playing the Lakers in the Forum. When he first stepped on the court, Martin turned around and saw “Kareem standing right next to me. He’s 7-2, one of the greatest players ever. I thought, ‘This is pretty cool.'"

Martin, who held Jabbar to just one-of-four shooting in the second quarter, was proud the legend “just didn’t go off on me.”

And then there was famous actor and rabid Lakers’ fan Jack Nicholson, who sat eating nachos and drinking a beer next to Martin by the Blazers’ bench. He said, ‘Do you want a nacho?’ I said, ’Sure,’ so I grabbed one of his nachos. He said, ‘Do you want a beer?’ I said, ‘No, I better not do that.’ He gave me that Jack Nicholson smile, which just cracked me up.”

After his stint in the NBA, Martin spent the next two years playing in Spain and Belgium. He returned to the CBA in 1989 and played for three different teams before going back overseas again to Germany for two years. Martin came back to the CBA with Omaha and Fort Wayne before getting burned out and retiring from basketball in 1994.

Martin, who played in two CBA all-star games and led the league in rebounding and blocked shots three years, finally decided to get a “real job” and became a sales representative for an awning company in Denver. He got a better offer in 1997 and moved to Salt Lake City, where he’s been the sales rep and assistant general manager for Allied Awning and Sign the past three years.

After playing basketball so long, Martin admits he initially suffered “quite a shock to the system” entering the “sedentary” business world. This once unknown player from Wichita now has his hoop dreams centered on his 2-year-old son, Alex.

“I miss playing, but it’s been five or six years now,” Martin said. “I kind of joke that he’s my 401K plan. I got him shooting jump shots on a six-foot goal already. I’m working him hard.”

A Closer Look at Brian Martin:

Years at KU: 1981-84

Career Notables: Finished career as fifth-leading shot blocker in school history (83)…only player to block a Wayman Tisdale shot in 1982-83…Career-high 18 points against Ohio State on Dec. 22, 1983.

Education: Martin majored in film studies.

Family:  Martin and his wife, Jodi, have three children (Alissa, 11, Emily, 7, Alex, 2)

Hobbies: Golf

Since Leaving KU: Martin played a year in the CBA with the Tampa Bay before making the NBA in 1985-86 (Seattle and Portland). He spent part of 1986-86 with Tampa Bay, and the rest of his career playing overseas in Belgium, Spain, and Germany and with five different teams in the CBA. Martin also had stints in the USBL, Canadian Basketball League, and Italy. He retired from basketball in 1994, and became a sales representative for an awning company in Denver.

Currently: Martin is a sales rep and assistant general manager for Allied Awning and Sign in Salt Lake City, Utah (since 1987)

Favorite KU Memories: Having a run-in with Indiana coach Bobby Knight after KU beat the Hoosiers, 71-61, in Madison Square Garden in 1981. “He was fuming and yelling at an official. I said, ‘That’s what you get, coach.’ He turned around and just glared at me. His assistant coach goes, ‘You don’t talk to Bobby Knight that way.’…I’ll never forget that look he (Knight) gave me. I thought he was going to hurt me. It was pretty funny.”

On the Jayhawks Today: “I can see them as a possible Final Four in the next year or two…I’m still proud of the team, and proud to say I played for them.”

Here, Brian talks about his childhood, how he began playing basketball, idolizing Jack Sikma in high school, and then a funny story about signing autographs when he played for the Seattle SuperSonics with Sikma.

"(I attended) Hutchinson Community College (for one year). That was more because of my grades. I just didn’t try hard enough in high school. I needed a year to get myself together. The nice thing about it... I had- gone to KU the first of the year in 1980-81.  We were finding a technicality with my grades. I don’t actually remember the whole thing. If you counted a certain number of hours, I was OK.  But they filled in these other hours that I had missed just barely.  So we appealed that to the NCAA, and so while we were waiting, I was at KU for about a month. They denied the appeal.  I had to go to Hutch. It was nice because coach (Ted) Owens sad, ‘Well, just go down there and get your grades together and come next year. As a matter of act, when I grew up, I didn’t care anything about Kansas or Kansas State. My dad grew up in Oklahoma, so I was always an Oklahoma football fan. We were right on the Arkansas border (Fort Smith, Arkansas), so Oklahoma and Arkansas were the teams I kind of followed when I was a kid. Until I started getting recruited, I didn’t really think anything about it. I grew up in Wichita. We moved there. My mom and dad both grew up in Oklahoma and Arkansas… I didn’t start playing basketball until I was a sophomore in high school. I was always tall. I was 6-foot in the eighth grade. I just never cared to play.  My dad played. He was great; he never pushed us (and said), ‘You got to play’. (I loved) swimming a lot. I was tallest of all the guys around. They said, ‘You got to play basketball. You got to play basketball.’  I started throwing the ball around that summer, kind of throwing it off the backboard and catching and throwing it down and shooting and just playing games with the guys. I started liking it. I tried out for the sophomore team my sophomore year and made it. We won the city championship. It kind of took off from there. I really started liking it. 

"They built Northwest High School in Wichita for my junior year. I went to West High School my sophomore year.  So everybody from that sophomore team went to Northwest. We stayed together. The JV coach at West became the varsity coach at Northwest. He got us going and kept us together. The summer between junior and senior year, he got us on the weights. I think that’s when I probably got serious about it. I went to Five Star basketball camp. I made the all-star game there. I played against against Tim McCormick (Michigan star center and eight-year NBA player), Karl Papke from Wichita, he was there. That’s when I found out that I was actually pretty good. That’ s where most of the colleges saw me. That’s when I started getting recruited.  In fact, I dove for a loose ball in all-star game and landed in Bob Hill’s lap. He had no idea who I was...Bob Hill remembers that, and the coach sitting next to him says, ‘You guys are going to be pretty lucky if you can get that guy out of Kansas. (Hill) goes, ‘Who is he?’ Someone clued him in. ‘That’s Brian Martin, he’s from Wichita. Bob Hill’s like, ‘Wow, I didn’t know who you were.’ I landed right in his his lap diving for a loose ball. Obviously, they made some contact with me. The first time I met Bob Hill, he told me that story. I said, ‘I remember landing in your lap.’ He said, ‘Yeah, I did, too, because I had no idea who you were.’

 

“… I used to always pretend to be Jack Sikma (Hall of Famer and seven-time NBA All-Star) in high school. A teammate of mine in high school loved Seattle, so we ‘d always be Seattle. It was kind of neat. When I was on Seattle’s team, my high school teammate called. He wanted me to get Jack Sikma’s autograph for him. ‘So Jack, do you want to give me your autograph?’ In fact, we were at an exhibition game. We were playing Portland somewhere in Oregon. I don’t remember where. It was a high school gym or small college gym. I always put my sweatpants on, my warm-up pants, and my jersey on to go out and shoot before the game, and an hour before the game or half hour before the game, as I was walking out, all these little kids were coming around wanting my autograph. There were about 30 kids around me and I was signing autographs. All of a sudden, I was in a middle of an autograph, this kid just ripped it out of my hand, and the whole crowd just left. I turned around and Jack Sikma had walked into the gym. They all wanted his autograph. They didn’t know who I was. So he just ripped it right out of my hand. I think I got like the first three letters of my first name in. I was like, here I was feeling pretty special, like I was a stud, and here (Sikma) walks in and puts me in my place.”

 

Former KU teammates and Max Falkenstien Blast Darnell Valentine

Darnell Valentine culminated his magical and tremendous career in 1981 as KU’s No. 2 all-time leading scorer (1,821 points) behind Clyde Lovellette, the school’s all-time assist leader with 609, while also ranking first in steals with 336 and free throws made (541).

Forty years later, his steals and free throws made still rank No. 1, while he is No. 7 in scoring and No. 6 in assists.

Valentine, a second-team AP All-American his senior year in 1981, averaged 15.4 points, 5.2 assists, 2.8 steals and 3.6 rebounds in 33.1 minutes per game over 118 contests during his career, while shooting 47.6 percent from the field and 71.8 percent at the free throw line.

He is the only player in Big Eight history to be named first-team All-League four years, while also selected as a three-time Academic All-American. He achieved a 3.3 GPA in pre-law.

 

Valentine received the ultimate honor when his No. 14 jersey was retired for eternity in the hallowed Allen Fieldhouse rafters on Dec. 1, 2005 at halftime of the KU-Georgia Tech game.

 

“This is large, this is an incredible opportunity for me just to come back,” Valentine said before the game. “This is like the crowning moment for me. I don’t know how involved, or what my presence will be from this point forward, other than another time for them to recognize me. This is the crowning of my adult life right now.”

 

Asked about it taking 24 years since he left KU for his jersey to be retired, Valentine gave an eloquent reply.

 “I was just looking at the media guide. There was a gentleman in 1927 whose jersey was retired in 2002. I forget this name,” Valentine said. “That was a great era. ... Jo Jo, he left here in ‘69. His jersey wasn’t retired until 2001. It seems like 24 years is a nice place. I can certainly appreciate it and I can relish that it is happening now and come back and be excited about it and fully appreciate what it means.”

 D.V. definitely has a special place in his former KU coach Ted Owens’ heart. He couldn’t have been more elated to see his jersey retired.

 “Darnell Valentine is one of the greatest players we’ve ever had here,” Owens told the Jayhawk Radio Network on Jan. 1, 2005. 

“It’s a wonderful day. To see him honored is a blessing for all of us.”

 

Despite all of Valentine’s accomplishments, he also had critics. Former teammates Donnie Von Moore and Tony Guy blasted Valentine during interviews with me many years ago. 

"Darnell Valentine, he was supposed to be the Academic All-American and all that crap, but (he got) a general studies degree,” Von Moore told me in 2000. “They don’t talk about that. I’m not saying there’s nothing wrong with a general studies degree if you know what you’re doing with it, if there’s an interest in it or something that you really want to do. But it can be used for something negative, too, to get you a lot of easy, bullcrap classes that don’t amount to a hill of beans. You get your degree and you go out there...(They find out) you took basketweaving one through eight for 20 hours. I kind of blew the whistle on that. Mike Fisher (KU academic counselor), he kind of took the fall for all that. That was a big story. It kind of led to Ted Owens being fired. He was pissed off at me for a long time. Ted didn’t speak to me for about 10 years because it kind of blew the lid off the thing.”

Von Moore was just getting started in firing criticism at Valentine, whom he played with for one year in 1977-78 when Donnie was a senior and D.V. a freshman sensation. KU won the Big Eight championship, but Final Four dreams were crashed when Kansas lost to UCLA in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. I cried after the loss having dinner with my parents. This was one of my all-time favorite KU teams and I got chills every night in Allen Fieldhouse watching KU play next to my dad each game with our season tickets knowing I was watching the No. 5 ranked team in the land.

Darnell, Donnie, Paul Mokeski, Clint Johnson, John "The Franchise" Douglas, Wilmore Fowler...These were my childhood heroes and I loved them dearly, much more than words can show.

 

Von Moore was angry at Valentine and Owens. He said Valentine was a very selfish player.

 

“Darnell got something he didn’t deserve. He was one of the reasons we lost the UCLA game,” Von Moore said. “He tried to have a personal one-one-one contest with Hamilton (Roy, star UCLA point guard). Darnell had two or three charges trying to take the man. Ted let him do it. It changed whole momentum and led them back in. (He got in) foul trouble (and fouled out when UCLA then took control of the game). (It was) stupid, so pissed off. We could have went somewhere with all the players we had.  

“They put the game in (Valentine’s) hands,” Donnie added. “Other than Darnell bringing the ball up the court, no shot. Had no jumper, no real overall game. He was just Darnell Valentine who had the ball all the time.”

 

Von Moore was so upset that he didn’t return with the team to Lawrence. Instead, he went with teammate Clint Johnson to California to stay with Johnson’s brother for two weeks before coming back to Lawrence.

 

Valentine and KU assistant Lafayette Norwood also hurt chemistry on the squad. Norwood, Valentine’s high school coach at Wichita Heights who came to KU as a package deal with D.V., was always inseparable with Valentine at KU, apart from the other players and coaches. Max Falkenstien, the legendary KU announcer, wrote about this in his 1996 book, Max and the Jayhawks:

 

“In fact, it was a strange coach-player relationship. They were always together. In airports, hotels, they were generally in tandem, separated from the rest of the team. I always questioned whether this was a good situation for team unity, but we never talked much about it.”

 

Norwood even had a picture of Valentine in his office. Owens got angry, and told Norwood to take it down, and said if he’s going to have a picture, make it be a team picture.

 

Even the great players, leaders, and tremendous people have their faults and imperfections. Valentine certainly did. He had a big ego and didn’t seem to care about his teammates. Tony Guy, a starter for four years from 1978-82 whom played with Valentine for three seasons, said teaming with Valentine was very troubling.

 “I think that Darnell Valentine was a great basketball player, there’s no doubt about it. But Darnell did not have a lot of confidence in the guys he was playing with,” Guy told Mark Stallard in his 2005 book, Tales from the Jayhawks Hardwood.

 

“It was almost as if we had to prove to Darnell that we were worthy to be his teammates. I always found that interesting, in that you’re talking about a guy who was a great athlete, but he was just an okay basketball player. I thought he was a great athlete, you couldn’t help admire him as an athlete. But as a basketball player, he was just an average shooter. If you look at the overall statistics, it’s not like he lit the place up. He didn’t pass the ball a whole lot, to be totally honest. I was a shooting guard, and trying to get the ball of out of his hands was like pulling teeth. 

 “It was interesting, because it was almost like we had to prove that we could play.”

 

This is painful to write, because I truly idolized Valentine growing up and he meant so much to me and I followed his NBA career so religiously and had pictures of him all over my wall as true inspiration. I put him on a pedestal; to me, he could do no wrong. I always thought his work ethic and defense were peerless, and he could penetrate the lane with the best.

Darnell Valentine was always my all-time favorite Jayhawk before Tony Guy replaced him in my heart as my No. 1 KU player ever.

Guy told me in 1999 that Valentine was a very egotistical player who was only concerned about furthering his career, instead of winning.

 

Guy gave an example of Ricky Ross, Valentine’s teammate in 1979-80 who was well-known to be extremely selfish with a big ego. One game, Guy told told me, Ross had a big scoring night but KU lost. Everyone was despondent in the locker room except Ross. Ricky couldn’t understand why his teammates were down after his high-scoring game.

 

“That’s how Darnell was,” Guy said.

 

However, Guy greatly admired Valentine’s defense and work ethic.

 

“I wouldn’t say we were friends,” he said. “I had a great deal of respect for that guy. The guy was an incredible athlete, his work ethic was phenomenal.” But?

 

“Darnell could have made it possible for two or three other guys to have gone to the NBA,” Guy said. “That’s how good Darnell was. That’s what Magic (Johnson) did (for Michigan State). Jay Vincent (he played nine years in the NBA) and Gregory Kelser (No. 4 overall pick in 1979 by Dick Vitale's-coached Detroit Pistons who played five years in the NBA) weren’t great basketball players. But every time time you saw them, they were dunking it. That was Magic. They were just average basketball players. Magic was about winning championships. How do you measure a great player? You measure a great player by his ability to make those around him better than they actually are. It’s about winning. Team sports is about winning

 “... Darnell was a phenomenal player,” Guy continued. “Trust me, I had to play with him every day and against. The guy was incredible. There was not a guy that I played against that I had to worry about another team’s point guard. Other than one--Larry Drew (Missouri star). One of the best players that we played against. He could shoot, but more important, he used his skills to help his team win. He could have shot more than he actually shot.”

 

Despite these critical comments about Valentine, Guy admitted that “Darnell was a lot of fun to play with. We had a lot of laughs. Had a great time with him. But we had a lot of disappointments, too.”

Former KU assistant Bob Hill, who coached Valentine all four years, was also critical of this All-American. Hill spoke to my Coaching Basketball class at KU in 1985, when I asked him who was the best player ever coached.

 

Without hesitation, Hill replied:

“Darnell Valentine.”

 

Hill, though, quickly added that Valentine wasn’t the most coachable player. He said that Valentine would break down plays at the end of the game and KU would lose. Hill added that everyone blamed Owens when it was Valentine’s fault.

 

While Valentine told the local media that he was elated that Jan. 1, 2005 day when his jersey was retired, he had a different opinion when talking to a Portland newspaper, his longtime hometown. Valentine fell in love with the Portland community and area since entering the NBA as a first-draft pick of the Blazers in 1981. 

 

“I am excited, no question,”  Valentine said. “But they retired the numbers of so many of their recent players — Raef LaFrentz, Nick Collison, Jacque Vaughn — within a year or two after they left Kansas. I think the timing for me is a little bit off, to say the least.”

 Falkenstien came close to summing it up best about Valentine’s huge ego and how it hurt the Jayhawks in his book:

 

“Darnell was a fabulous player for KU, but I felt that often he tried to do too much at the expense of the team.”

 

A longtime journalist and sports editor in Kansas once told me that Valentine had no friends on the team. However, I saw Valentine playing tennis with teammate David Magley at KU one time. Magley has also repeatedly talked very warmly of Valentine, his longtime friend who he first met on his recruiting trip to Lawrence.

As has Drew, who battled against Valentine in college and then the NBA, while also teammates with Valentine with the Los Angeles Clippers.

“He was a warrior,” Drew told me once of Valentine.

 But in the end, Guy said Valentine extremely hurt KU too often during his career. 

 

“He was very selfish and it cost us dearly,” Guy said. “He wanted to get his. When I played, Darnell was basically allowed to do whatever he wanted and whenever he wanted to do it. And it cost us. We weren’t nearly the teams we could have been under Darnell. A tremendous basketball player, but he used all of his skills to enhance his own career. That’s all he was about.”