TONY Martino is :determin-
ed to:kick: down the barriers
of U.S. college football.

By TIMOTHY RENSHAW
. News Reporter

Enjoying increased notice from
American colleges and professional
American football teams for his
punting and field goal-kicking
prowess, the 19-year-old West
Vancouver man is convinced he
has the raw talent and desire to
crack what is the most competitive
football market in the world.

In 1985, Martino was selected to
represent Eastern Arizona College
(EAC) on the National Junior Col-
lege Athletic Association’s
(NICAA) all-conference first
‘team, and subsequently named to
the association's all-regional first
team. .

His 43,9-yard punting average
for the year was the second highest
in the NJCAA,

LED CONFERENCE

He led the Western College
Conference in kickoffs with a 65-
yard average.

He has not missed a single-point

osc for two years, and he

has kicked field goals from
distances of 64 yards in practice
: (the current NFL. record. for
longest field goal is 63 yards).

The nostrils of college and‘ pro-
fessional football ‘talent’ scouts

“the field ‘goal-of success. Last season‘he played for Eastern Arizona Col-
lege (NICAA: Division) a and next year. he’ 8 planning to attend a Division I

“experience,

out camps.

have subsequently picked up the

- scent.

Offers of football scholarships
from major ‘pack 10° colleges have
increased from a tentative trickle
to a bubbling roar.

San Diego State, Kent State,
Bowing Green and the University
of Washington are all currently
courting Martino. .

The National Football League’s
AFC Los Angeles Raiders invited
the West Vancouver athlete to the
team’s recent week-long kicker’s
camp in Southern California.

RAIDERS INTERESTED

Despite Martino’s youth and in-
Raiders’ talent
development officials are interest-
ed,

In his sophomore year at EAC,
Martino takes his initial success on
the frontiers of American football
stardom with a bemused shrug and
an unaffected confidence in his
abilities. .

“t think.the NFL is a possibility
for me, definitely. It will take a lot
of work and some luck, but I think
I can do it. When | came down
here, I expected a lot more of a

struggle. So far, in my league .

anyway, there has ~ been no real
competition for me.’”

Martino’s talents were first
noticed ‘by’ scouts. for the B.C.
Lions who ‘invited the West Van-
couver Secondary student to attend
one of.the team’s spring 1984 try-

‘not just brute force,"”

4 > 0

to pro-American football
| WEST VAN MAN PUNTS TO SUCCESS

Suitably impressed, Lions’
coaching staff urged him to play at
the University of Hawaii, but a
cracked shoulder suffered while
surfing put Martino out of action
prior to his Hawaiian try out.’

Martino settled for an offer
from EAC.

MONEY LEAGUE

Though he says he would love to
play for the Lions and has had of-
fers from Canadian universities,
Martino is determined to test
himself in the competitive
American football league.

“Tt's where the money is,’’ Mar-
tino says, ‘‘but I'll take it as it
comes. One way or the other I'll be
playing professional: football. I’d
be thrilled to play in either league,
really."*

To be closer to home,: yet -im-
mersed in’ a top-quality football
program,. Martino says he is
carefully considering an offer to
play “with the University of
Washington’s Huskies.

Kickers in football. have: been
viewed as members of that elite
white-collar class of specialists:
whose fingernails remain free of
the dirt scratched from the game’ s
front lines. :

Martino shrugs off that image .

with a laugh, “Ya, it looks easy,
but only if you do it well’. Every

team. has to havea good kicker’
and every football player knows.

that...It’s an art, It takes finesse,