• Anniversary. 30 years of the death of Fernando Martín: "It was our James Dean"

Madrileño de Conde de Orgaz, son of Ricardo and Carmen, myopic, third of four brothers, bad student, multidisciplinary athlete as skilled in ping pong as in swimming (champion of Castile), before trying basketball he worked in the team Handball in the Marists of San José del Parque; Flamenco lover (her favorite group was Triana), nature, rock climbing in Pedriza, speed, family summers in Benidorm and Delibes. Fernando Martín was an icon of the 80s , a competitor as he does not remember ("Today I did not get up to lose" was one of his recurring phrases), a Spanish Neil Armstrong, who left his life in a cold and to always gray late on the M-30, on December 3 30 years ago. Nobody forgets what he was doing that day the star left and the myth was born.

1.- The crush on basketball

Fernando was a physical portent, a 'Tarzan' who could have excelled in almost any sport that had been proposed. He started with handball, although from a very young age he excelled in swimming at the Jiménez Club. He was, of course, the star of the team at his school. It was the coach of the basketball team, Mariano Bartivas, who caught him for the baskets when he learned about his virtues. They were early 1978, he was already 15 years old and it was a crush, although at first it was difficult to adapt to the steps: in just two years he would be playing in the elite.

2.- Students

In the summer of 78, Martín became a collegiate player, where he lived a short but intense stage in which, fundamentally, he developed as a basketball player. "I remember his arrival at Ramiro. I thought: 'What a bird, how it progresses,'" Pepu Hernández recalled. In his first course, he was champion of junior Spain in Mataró, surprising the whole country, because he was not yet so well known. Although he already debuted with the first team in 79/80, his consolidation came in the following season, starring in one of the sweetest moments in the club's history. With Chus Codina on the bench and a mythical quintet ( Vicente Gil, Charly López Rodríguez, Del Corral, Slab Jones and young Martin ), they were runners-up in the League with a fast and creative basketball that is still remembered. Being still a Student player, his debut with the Spanish team took place.

3.- Signing for Real Madrid

The first interested in taking Fernando was the Joventut de Manel Comas. Then came the powerful offers from Barcelona and Madrid. "It was a clear and fast objective," confessed Lolo Sainz. The signing with the whites, who had to pay a transfer of 13 million pesetas , occurred on June 24, 1981: a three-season contract for nine million. Martin arrived at the same time that Mirza Delibasic and, without adaptation time, went with the team to Sao Paulo to play the Club World Cup. In his first course he conquered the first of the four leagues of that initial white period, in which he would also add two Cups and a Cup Win.

4.- Spanish team

Martín already played the Junior Europeans of 1979 and 1980. In the first, in Damascus, with Aíto García Reneses on the bench, they conquered bronze. In Celje, with Ignacio Pinedo, they were fourth after losing against Glouchkov's Bulgaria. His official debut with Díaz Miguel's absolute, with whom he would maintain a permanent love-hate relationship, occurred on May 13, 1981 , in a preparation match against France. In the European of that summer in Czechoslovakia, again quarters, his cap is reminded of Tachenko. Before Los Angeles, Martin played the World Cup in Cali (again 4th), remembered for the first official victory against the USA (with 26 points of the pivot) and the European of France, in which they conquered the silver after winning the USSR of Sabonis in the semifinals. Only the Italy of Riva and Meneghin turned away from gold.

5.- Los Angeles 84

At the great moment of Spanish basketball Fernando Martín arrived after an ordeal of months with his battered back. A conscientious work with Paco Binaburó allowed him to perform in Los Angeles, where the team was to star in the first great feat of its history. That victory against Yugoslavia in the semifinals (74-61) that then sang The Nikis unleashed a 'boom' never seen before. In the Forum of Los Angeles, with half a country spent the night by the sport of the baskets, the USA of Michael Jordan and Pat Ewing imposed the logic, although the silver was already a summit in itself. After the Games, the pivot would only play two more tournaments with Spain and both somewhat disappointing. In the 1985 European in Germany they could only finish in fourth position after falling with Czechoslovakia. Together with Valters, Petrovic, Schrempf and Sabonis, Martin completed a legendary ideal quintet. The farewell (because his march to the NBA prevented him from continuing to wear the national shirt, according to the rules of the time) came in the World Cup of 86, a fifth place that was much less than expected. In total, 86 matches and two silver medals.

6.- NBA

From early on, the best league in the world looked at that Spanish phenomenon. The Lakers sent him letters and during the Los Angeles Games, Jerry West telephoned him. But the Angels were ahead of the Nets in the 1985 draft (38th place). Everything was ready that summer for the big jump after a Summer League in Priceton in which he finished convincing the New Jersey franchise. That opportunity, perhaps more propitious than the one he was going to have later in Portland, did not materialize because of the problems with his agent (Lee Fentress). That summer was to be Bulgarian Glouchkov the first non-trained foreigner in the NCAA to play the NBA (Suns).

Already with Miguel Angel Paniagua and after completing in Loyola Marymount the campus of the Blazers, Fernando signs with those of Oregon. He fulfilled his great illusion, even if he was losing money. On October 31, 1986 a Spaniard debuted in the NBA . In sports, your stay in Portland did not meet your expectations. Between injuries and the lack of courage of Mike Schuler, a rookie coach in a team with aspirations, he barely had opportunities. Not even when San Bowie was injured: the Blazers chose to sign Kevin Duckworth in a transfer, who was going to break his nose in training.

7.- Return to Madrid

The proposals that were to continue in the NBA (mainly of the Spurs) were thrown down by the lockout of that summer. So Martín returned to Madrid with a backlash. "I thought he was not coming back so soon," said Lolo Sainz, who received his star with "a little less sporting ambition . " That year they raised the Korac, taking past revenges with the Cibona and lost the ACB against Barça and Norris. The American was going to be one of the great names of the end of Fernando's career. The other, that of Drazen Petrovic.

8.- Petrovic

The genius of Sibenik had been the great black beast of Real Madrid in the early 80's. For his legendary provocations and for the recurring white defeats against the Cibona, especially painful that of the final of the 1985 European Cup in Athens (36 Drazen points). So his arrival in Chamartín unleashed the controversy. "It was complicated. He had hurt us a lot in the past. He was a young, rebellious boy. But I think he did the impossible to be well received," said Sainz, who had to deal with two of the greatest egos in the history of basketball. Petrovic landed in October, after the Seoul Games. And in November they won the Barça Cup in La Coruña. Although the peak of its tension, the contrast between the coletive leadership of the Spanish and the individualism of the Balkan, came in the unforgettable final of the Recopa against Snaidero Caserta . While Martin played with a broken finger, Drazen signed one of the games of his life (62 points), which raised blisters. Later, they would lose the ACB against Barça, in the famous Neyro League.

With three more years of contract, Petrovic left Real Madrid in August 1989 , heading for the Blazers. 61 white matches were enough to be a club legend.

9.- Audie Norris

The American, who also had a past in the Blazers, landed in Spain in 1987 and his duels with Martin were to become the living history of Spanish basketball. About to sign with Real Madrid a year earlier, the pivot dressed in Barca after passing through the Benetton de Treviso, an anti Martin for his physical power, although he arrived with knee problems. His shocks in the paint, pure burning, were unique. A rivalry of blows, grips, elbows and furtive glances, as if the painting were a precious redoubt to defend with one's own life. A battle that magnified both. And off the court, once the duel was over, both maintained the honor and the forms. "There are few things that I have had as clear in my life as I wanted to be in Madrid for his funeral," says Norris, whose presence in the pavilion of the Sports City, along with his Barça teammates, was exciting. The last game in which they were face to face had been shortly before, on October 17, 1989, at the Palace.

10.- Accident

The 89/90 season had begun with changes in Madrid, without Petrovic and without the eternal Lolo Sainz on the bench, whom George Karl replaced. Fernando played his last game on November 14, against the IFA Granollers Group. The accident on the M-30 occurred hours before the meeting at the Palace before the CAI - which was logically suspended - although Martin, who was recovering from tendonitis, was not going to play. His death was a sock in the country. He was buried two days later. That afternoon, Real Madrid played the saddest game in its history. Before the PAOK , corresponding to the Recopa, with his shirt and his tracksuit on the white bench. They lost by 13 to the break and won 92-71, making good the phrase that summed up the unredeemed spirit of the eternal 10: "These we beat by 20".

* Some of the anecdotes included in the article have been extracted from the book: "Fernando Martín. Winning instinct" (Javier Balmaseda. Editorial JC)

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