2000 Point Club
Former Viking Martin achieves career milestone
by Katrina Smith
It is quite an accomplishment for an athlete to score 1,000 in either their high school or college basketball career. But it is extremely rare to score 2,000 points.
Kortland Martin, 2017 graduate of Humboldt High School reached a milestone last month when he scored his 2,000th point in his basketball career at Freed-Hardeman University. The Freed-Hardeman family and fans witnessed this historical moment on the home court in the Brewers Sport Center.
Martin loves everything basketball and spends time studying the sport and working out when he is not on the court. His love for basketball does not keep him from loving other sports too. His first love was football and he has played soccer, baseball and ran track. One of the biggest lessons he learned came from playing soccer and it was the dynamics of team-work.
“When I am not on the court, I enjoy time alone,” said Martin. “Studying basketball on film and working out in the gym is what I like to call, me time.”
Martin demonstrated excellence academically and in sports while playing in
high school. Martin played under the leadership of Coach Ron Abernathy and was excited to share his experience on the team.
“Coach Ab is a great coach,” said Martin. “He’s committed to every single player, and the entire coaching staff went beyond normal duties to keep us focused and motivated to be a better athlete.” 
“I have two memorable experiences from high school I will never forget,” said Martin. “The first one was when I was a senior in high school, I did not finish a paper. My mom, (Kortnea Martin) benched me in a district game. I felt like I let her down and that was not a good feeling.”
“The second memorable moment was when the team traveled to Murfreesboro to play in the state championship game. It was an amazing experience to play in the glass house and to hear the Humboldt fans and supporters cheering us on.”
After high school, Martin committed to play basketball with Freed-Hardeman in Henderson, Tenn.
“After multiple visits to FHU, I felt being on this campus would help me grow as a person and as an athlete.” said Martin. “I felt like this is where I needed to be.”
According to the university’s website, Freed-Hardeman is a private university with the belief of helping students develop their God-given talents for His glory.
Martin walked into a different world when he stepped foot onto campus. Those things his parents and family did to help him stay organized were now riding on his shoulders with him making decisions, completing assignments and playing basketball.
“I struggled with time management really bad,” said Martin. “I was benched some of my freshman and sophomore year. I worked really hard to get back to that eligible status to play.”
His hardwork and determination definitely paid off. He received basketball honors while playing at FHU and received the American Midwest Conference Freshman of the year, Third Team All-AMC honors as a sophomore in 2018-19, July 2020 NAIA player spotlight, and recently breaking the career record of shooting the most threes in the school’s history all while scoring 2,000 points professionally.
Against Campbellsville Tigers last Monday, Martin had an outstanding night and scored 32 points, leading the FHU lions to victory.
Martin currently has a 3.4 GPA and will be graduating from FHU on May 14. His dream is to play in the NBA. Plans after college will consist of attempting to make that dream of playing in the NBA a reality. He will also explore other avenues that may include playing basketball overseas.
Regardless, of which one he commits to, there is no doubt he will continue to strive at being the best. Stay tuned to see what is next for this basketball sensation.
