Martinez returns to face former school

Former Kofa star takes on the Kings for the 1st time in his career

When the Kofa Kings’ football team runs onto the field Friday night against Avondale-Agua Fria, for most in attendance, it’ll be a normal regular season game. But for Agua Fria head coach George Martinez, the game is a sort of homecoming for the 1969 Kofa graduate.

Having compiled 40-plus years of coaching experience, Martinez’s journey brings him back to Yuma, albeit it for one night only. The 2020 Kofa Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee returns to his former school for the first time on the opposition’s side of the field.

“My heart’s always been to my alma mater,” said Martinez this week. “It’s like I told my kids, ‘This is like homecoming for me.’”

The campus looks completely different from his time as a King, but the field Martinez showcased his talents on 42 years ago remains the same except for the name – Irv Pallack Field was formerly known as Kofa Memorial Stadium.

And there will be plenty of familiar local faces in the crowd when his 2-0 Owls take on the 0-1 Kings.

“My mom’s 91-years-old and will be there,” he said. “My two sisters and their families live in Yuma and they’ll be at the game.”

Martinez was a two-year letterman for the baseball

and football programs at Kofa, the quarterback and punter for the football team and the 1969 Kofa High School Male Athlete of the Year. As the signal-caller his senior year for the varsity level team, Martinez led the Kings to a 7-3 record and a perfect 5-0 at home.

“The only difference is I want to win my sixth game in that stadium with a different team,” Martinez said. “That’s our goal. We’ve got a good team.”

His 1968 team was the last Kofa team to win seven regular season games, and the seven victories remains tied for the most wins in one season in Kofa history.

“It’s amazing,” Duncan Johnston, a 1980 Kofa graduate and Kofa Athletic Hall of Fame committee member, said of Martinez facing his former school. “I think it’s a tribute to the things he’s done … He’s done some amazing things coaching and he was an amazing player. He’s coached at high levels and now he’s coming back to Kofa High School and coaching against the Kings.”

“The Martinezes are local

legends,” Johnston added. “And that family was a big part of Kofa athletics in the 60s and 70s.”

Johnston mentioned he spent ample time at Kofa on Friday nights watching the Martinez family play football while he was a kid and hopes enough Yumans come out to support the former Kofa star on Friday night.

“When I see my former teammates and friends, it’s so nice to see them and visit with them,” Martinez said. “I know we’re here to play a game and it’s not going to be a situation where I have a lot of time (to visit) … And when the kids (are preparing to change and get on the bus), that’ll give me time to visit with family and friends.”

Martinez’s coaching career checks off all the boxes. He coached collegiately, professionally for the Arizona Cardinals and the then Oakland Raiders, along with 25-plus years in the high school ranks.

Everything comes to an end eventually with age and Martinez knows his career is nearing the end, but he’s thankful for this opportunity to come back to his former stomping grounds and face his alma mater.

“I think it’s phenomenal,” he said. “Over 44 years, you never know where you’ll be coaching and what your schedule is going to be. When I saw we were coming to Yuma, I said, ‘Man, this is a blessing right here.’”

A blessing is the perfect way to describe how Martinez views life now. Despite still having family in Yuma, it’s been quite some time since he’s made his way back down to the southwest corner of Arizona.

While remaining vigilant during the COVID-19 pandemic, Martinez also battled prostate cancer last year.

“Thank God I’ve beat it so far,” he said. “I was afraid to go anywhere with COVID out there. Going through 45 radiation treatments, at that time, I wondered what was in the future. The man upstairs has always been good to me and on my side.”

And now, Martinez brings his strong beliefs in faith and his football team to Kofa on Friday as they attempt to start 3-0 for the 22nd time in the Owls’ 73 year history.