Former Boston College standout player and assistant coach Tom “Red” Martin passed away July 27 after a battle with prostate cancer, according to a report in the Boston Globe.
Martin was 79.
As a senior captain for the Eagles, Martin was named Beanpot MVP and winner of the Walter Brown Award in 1961.
“Those were great days — the best days,” Martin told the Globe in 2001. “I always felt privileged that I played in the Garden for Boston College.”
Boston College retired the No. 15 jersey Martin wore.
Martin went on to serve as a BC assistant coach for three seasons under his mentor, John “Snooks” Kelley, and also was named to the 1962 U.S. National and 1964 U.S. Olympic teams.
Nicknamed “Red” for his hair, Martin was born in Somerville, Mass., the son of Thomas Considine and the former Anne Norton. When he was 12, his mother remarried after his father passed away and Martin took the last name of his stepfather, William Martin, a custodian in the Cambridge school system.
Founder and chairman of the Cramer Productions marketing firm in Norwood, Martin was also a first baseman on the 1960 and 1961 BC baseball teams that played in the College World Series.
He was offered an invitation to try out for the Boston Bruins farm team in Providence after the Olympics, but declined because he was making more money at his job as a CPA at Arthur Andersen & Co. in Boston.
A past president of the Boston College Alumni Association, Martin is in the BC Varsity Club, Beanpot, Massachusetts Hockey, and Cambridge Sports halls of fame, and will be inducted in September into the Massachusetts Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
In addition to his wife, June, Martin leaves six sons, Shawn, Thomas Jr., Timothy, Christopher, and Gregory, all of Canton, and Patrick of Needham; a daughter, Julie, of Westwood; and 22 grandchildren.
A funeral Mass was held Aug. 1 at St. Ignatius of Loyola Church in Chestnut Hill. Burial will be in Milton Cemetery.
