Heart Award – Austin Martin, Mt. Lebanon
Eleanor Bailey
Mt. Lebanon goaltender Austin Martin nearly led the Blue Devils to a Penguins Cup title this season despite the death of his father, Jason.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Ryan Patrick (18) attempts to console goalie Austin Martin (50) after Mt. Lebanon’s 4-1 loss to North Allegheny in the PIHL Class AAA championship game.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Austin Martin and his mother, Dana, look at the last family photo taken last fall with his father, Jason Martin, who died Dec. 26, 2020, from complications caused by COVID-19.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Austin and Dana Martin pose with their last family photo taken last fall. Jason Martin, the patriarch of the family, passed away Dec. 26, 2020, from because of complications from COVID-19.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Austin Martin is the Mt. Lebanon hockey team’s goaltender.
Austin Martin taps his goalie pads with his glove before Mt. Lebanon ice hockey games.
It’s not a superstitious gestures. Rather, the act is a nod to his father, who passed away Dec. 26, 2020, because of complications from COVID-19.
“I feel like (my dad) is watching me,” said Martin.
His mother, Dana, is adamant on that front. “I know he’s watching,” she said.
She was certain he was there in spirit as the Blue Devils turned a 1-8 start into a championship season. Once play resumed after the three-week pandemic moratorium placed on sports in the Commonwealth over the holidays, Lebo rolled up a 6-2-1 record and qualified for the playoffs.
The Blue Devils upset the No. 2 and No. 3 teams and made their first appearance in Penguins Cup championship game since 2006. Lebo dropped a 4-1 decision to North Allegheny in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League’s Class AAA championship game played April 19 at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center.
Since the start of the new year, the Lebo players all placed commemorative stickers on their helmets in recognition of Martin’s passing.
Austin had his father’s initials emblazoned on his left pad and the date of his death on the right. On the inside of his left forearm, he tattooed in Roman numerals his father’s birth date.
Life well lived
Jason Michael Martin was born Sept. 1, 1973.
The son of Renee Martin and the late J. Michael Martin, he played hockey at Mt. Lebanon and the drums in the Blue Devil Marching Band.
After graduating in 1991, Martin attended the Kiski School for a year before matriculating to the University of South Carolina where he earned a bachelor’s degree in hotel, restaurant and tourism administration as well as sports administration.
Martin married his high school sweetheart Aug. 8, 1998. He proposed by renting an airplane banner that read “Dana, will you marry me? Love, Jason” while the couple vacationed in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
During their early days as a married couple, the Martins resided in Kentucky. Martin was an assistant PGA professional there for six years. At the time of his death, he was director of sales at the Crowne Plaza and Suites in Bethel Park.
When his sons, Blake, 20, and Austin, 16, were born, he introduced them to sports.
Austin recalled starting to play at age 5 in the Mt. Lebanon Developmental League, where players learn fundamentals, how to skate and the rules of the game. Participants rotate through the positions, but Austin admitted to being born to play goalie.
“I loved it,” he said. “I thought it would be so much fun being the main part of the game and the center of attention.”
For Austin, it was the same way with baseball. He gravitated toward playing catcher.
Austin played hockey and baseball until three summers ago when he focused his athletic endeavors on the rink instead of the diamond. Austin played Mites with Mt. Lebanon Hockey Association, Squirts with the Pens Elite team before returning to the MLHA Hornets. He’s been a member of the Pittsburgh Predators AAA U15 and U16 teams.
Austin credits his dad for nurturing his interest in hockey. He said his father and uncle, Jeff, had four season tickets for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“My brother and I would always go to a bunch of games and we always liked watching,” Austin said. “but I never thought about playing hockey until my dad signed me up. Ever since then, he taught or told me everything I need to do.
“To be honest, dad liked golf more,” he added. “It was more his sport and he wanted us to play but for me, I like hockey more.”
So the elder Martin adapted. He end up being his son’s biggest supporter.
No matter the weather, Austin and his dad traveled the country for hockey tournaments from Silver Sticks in Michigan to nationals in 2018 at Notre Dame to regular road trips to Ohio, Buffalo and Philadelphia.
Austin recalled some of his “favorite and fondest” moments with his father occurred not in the rink, but rather on the road. The pair got a flat tire on a trip to Michigan and had to sit on the side of the highway for two hours waiting for a tow because of snow.
“It was just our luck because on the way up there we almost ran out of gas,” Austin said. “It was not a funny situation, but our luck, and we just sat there played games and reminisced about others.”
COVID-19 strikes
At home Dec. 7, the family was watching the Pittsburgh Steelers fall to the Washington Football Team on Monday Night Football when Jason looked at his Apple watch. The timepiece indicated his oxygen was low. Mr. Martin, who had fallen ill Dec. 4, walked out of the house to an ambulance summoned by his wife. It was the last time the family saw Mr. Martin alive. By Dec. 12, he was placed on a ventilator at St. Clair Hospital. On Christmas morning and later that evening, the Martins talked into Jason’s ear.
Austin repeatedly told his dad, “I love you. I love you.”
“I hoped he could hear us,” he said. “I told him everything I wanted to say to him.”
In the early hours of Dec. 26, Jason was gone. “I didn’t know how to feel or what to do,” Austin said.
Austin asked his mother if his dad waited because he knew how much she loved Christmas and she replied that she did believe in those kinds of things. “So, I think maybe he did.”
Each holiday season, the house is decorated and the tree is trimmed but this past Christmas was “very different.” This year the family watched a movie. Austin selected the “Greatest Game Ever Played” as a tribute to his dad.
New Year’s Day was another anomaly.
About 75 vehicles lined up in the pouring rain for a funeral procession in Jason’s memory. Parents, kids, colleagues and friends turned out for the police-led procession from Ice Castle in Castle Shannon to the ice rink in Mt. Lebanon.
“It was just unbelievable. Incredible,” Dana said. “You realize how much he meant to the community.”
For the past two years, Jason Martin served as business manager for the Pittsburgh Predators amateur hockey team. He also worked for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League. He announced and compiled music playlists for games. He also created videos for streaming on different platforms.
All those extracurriculars made it difficult for Austin to come to gripes with his father’s death. He grappled with emotions before he returned to the rink.
At first, he said his father’s death didn’t seem real and that he would walk through the house expecting to see him. He longed to sit at the table where he watched and edited videos with his dad.
At times, he said he got angry.
“I knew I would miss seeing him at the rink, but I knew playing hockey was something I needed to do. The right thing,” he said. “It felt good. It’s something my dad would have wanted me to do. I’m playing for him now.”