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Date of Birth: 1939
Place of Birth: St. John’s, Nfld.
Inducted: 1999 (Player Category)

Bill Martin was a standout hockey player from school to provincial senior hockey competition. Extremely adept in a defensive role, he possessed exceptional speed and stick-handling ability that allowed him to consistently spearhead attacks by the team for which he was playing.

On local and provincial levels, he was a perennial all-star contributing greatly to the success of the many teams for which he played. A gentleman on and off the ice, he earned the respect of fans, opposing players, teammates and officials, and his exceptional ability was rewarded by an impressive number of individual awards.

At the school level, he was the most valuable player in 1955, ‘56 and ‘57. Within the St. John’s Junior League in 1959, he was named the player who best combined sportsmanship and ability, and was selected the Most Valuable Player for the Feildians Athletic Association. In 1960, ‘62 and ’69, he emerged as the St. John’s Senior League’s best defenceman and, in 1960 and ’62, he claimed the senior league award for the most gentlemanly and effective player. During the 1962 season, he was the senior league’s top scorer. In 1960, he was the St. John’s Senior Hockey League’s highest scoring defenceman, Most Valuable Player, and Most Gentlemanly and Effective Player and, at the age of 21, was voted St. John’s Male Athlete of the Year. He was a finalist for St. John’s Athlete of the Year in 1959, ‘63 and ‘64. On three occasions he was named Feildian Athlete of the Year and, in 1969, he shared the scoring title with teammates Stan Breen and Doug Squires.