As she made her way to center court at Tony’s Pizza Events Center last Friday prior to the 6 p.m. Class 4A state basketball semifinal game, Fran Martin began to have some butterflies.
 
It wasn’t the stage that made her nervous.
 
As a longtime coach and Kansas State High School Activities Association administrator, Martin had grown accustomed to being in the public eye.
 
“Obviously in my job I’ve gotten in front of these big groups of people and done things like that for years,” she said. “But it’s a little bit different when you’re the one that they’re all focused on.”
 
Indeed, it was the circumstances surrounding her presence in Salina that had Martin somewhat uncomfortable, but in the best possible way. The ceremony was recognizing Martin for her induction into the KSHSAA Hall of Fame as part of the 2023-24 five-person class.

(KSHSAA Hall of Fame video for Fran Martin)
 
“It really was exciting and I was actually a little bit nervous,” Martin said. “I was very happy and completely surprised about the honor. I didn’t even know I’d been nominated and when (KSHSAA Assistant Executive Director) Sarah Smith called to tell me, I said, ‘What Hall of Fame are you talking about?’ I had no idea and I’m sure she thought I was crazy. So she said, ‘Well the KSHSAA Hall of Fame.’ I said, ‘I’m not in the KSHSAA Hall of Fame,’ and she said, ‘Well you are now.’
 
“After that initial shock wore off, it’s just humbling. I know having worked there and been in that Hall of Fame room the people that are in that Hall of Fame. And you don’t feel like you are worthy because there are some really great people in that Hall of Fame.”
 
It’s not something Martin ever envisioned being the capping piece to a career that spanned more than four decades of service to high school athletics in Kansas. In fact, being an employee for the KSHSAA was the furthest thing from Martin’s mind early in her coaching career that began at La Crosse and planted deep roots at El Dorado, where she served as basketball and softball coach from 1988-2002.
 
Upon her arrival at El Dorado, Martin had been a three-sport coach at La Crosse with volleyball in the mix as well. But she was limited to coaching only two sports at El Dorado and when she settled on basketball and softball, then-Wildcat athletic director John Blazek had a request – well, more of an insistence – for Martin.
 
“He said, ‘Hey, you need to sign up to be a volleyball official; I need volleyball officials,’” Martin said. “I said, ‘Who do you sign up with?’ and he told me KSHSAA. So I told him, ‘You know, I don’t know if I want to do that. I don’t like those people.’
 
“Again, it was the reason most coaches don’t like the athletic association. In La Crosse, we always got put in a sub-state I didn’t think we should be put in. Our volleyball team would be in the same sub-state with the No. 2 and 1 ranked teams and we were ranked third. You had that negative vibe about them because it’s the rule-making body and nobody likes the rule-making body. So when he said that, I was reluctant, but I did.
 
“Frankly, it was one of the smartest things I ever did. It gave me a completely different perspective.”
 

 
The union of officiating and the KSHSAA became one that essentially defined Martin’s Hall of Fame career.
 
After leaving El Dorado in 2002 for Seaman for an assistant principal/activities director position in her pursuit to become a school administrator, she quickly saw her career path change again. An assistant executive director position at KSHSAA came up two years into her tenure and she applied for the job and got it over a host of candidates.
 
“I certainly didn’t think about being a KSHSAA administrator,” she said. “When I made the move from El Dorado to Seaman, I was at that point in my career where it was, ‘Do you want to be a principal or not?’ I felt like I needed more experience in the assistant principal role dealing with special education and those kind of things.
 
“I didn’t know I would get the job. But I’m super excited that I did and the experiences and the people I’ve gotten to meet and the opportunities I’ve had to be a leader in the state and nation were very, very rewarding.
 
During her 19-year tenure with KSHSAA, Martin was responsible for the administration of basketball, cross country, baseball and softball as well as the KSHSAA Coaching School and serving as KIAAA liaison.
 
At the time of her hiring, KSHSAA didn’t have a position specifically designated for working with the officiating side of high school sports.
 
“Really all we did was register officials and tell them they had to go to a rules meeting and an area meeting,” Martin said. “We didn’t do anything with clinics or trying to help them.”
 
But in working closely with the late Rick Bowden, also an assistant executive director who had an officiating background like Martin, they began developing ways to increase KSHSAA’s involvement and support of the state’s officials, including the creation of camps and clinics.
 
And though she continued to work tirelessly with her other sport duties, she admitted that the work on increasing KSHSAA’s involvement with recruiting, training and retaining officials “became my baby.”
 

 
She was recognized for her efforts as well, receiving one of her two National Federation of State High School Association citations for her service toward officiating.
 
“If you want to play games, you have to have officials,” Martin said. “Numbers have been dropping for years so it became ‘How can we recruit them and how are we going to keep them.’ … You’ve got to have things they can go to and learn and feel confident and that’s where we started making changes. Our rules meeting went from regurgitating rules to everybody would put something in there more about the mechanics or more hands-on stuff.
 
“You’ve got to have somebody to connect with those officials. If I’m a coach, I have a support group system in my administrators at the school and my other coaches at the school. If I’m an official, where’s my support system? We felt like that was a big need for us.”
 
It became enough of a baby and a priority within the KSHSAA that when Martin retired as an assistant executive director in 2022, she stayed on staff in a newly created position designed specifically to oversee officials’ service and education.
 
Martin retired from that position last year with Scott Goodheart coming on to fill that role. An official himself after graduating high school in 2006 from Otis-Bison, Goodheart said Martin has pretty much become synonymous with officiating in Kansas.
 
“Fran Martin is all I know from officiating when I first started out – she was always the face you saw,” Goodheart said. “She really paved the way for a lot of people. A lot of people advocated for officials but not like she did from the KSHSAA office.”
 
Now in replacing her, he hopes to carry on her legacy in the same manner.
 
“It’s kind of like following Bill Snyder or a Bill Self,” Goodheart said. “It’s a huge under-taking. Fran was exceptional in what she did and was a huge mentor to me and a lot of others. She was just extraordinary on being an advocate for officials and I’m hoping to continue that trend. I’ll try to be not just the face for officials but the voice for officials too.
 
“We’re trying to do some more things – obviously camps and clinics are a big emphasis, but video review is something we need to be better about having all the tools for that, be it Hudl or NFHS, going in and learning from that. And kids are playing all year-round so we need to be doing something all year-round to keep engaged.”
 
Martin, and others, said there was no secret to her success.
 
“Fran maintained a tenacious work ethic and commitment to what she believed in,” KSHSAA Executive Director Bill Faflick said. “What made her a valued teammate during her tenure at the KSHSAA and throughout her time in education was the steadfast belief in the value of education-based activities. Fran was willing to work fervently to maintain the integrity of not just the activities she administered but also each activity sponsored by the KSHSAA.”
 
“I worked hard,” she said. “I worked hard because I want things to be done well for the people that are going to reap the benefits out of it. The hard work for me was just part of it and frankly I love to work. You don’t ever think about that’s what’s going to happen in the end, but it sure is humbling to be recognized for the accomplishments because not everybody gets that opportunity. I’m very, very blessed.
 
“The Hall of Fame was a big honor and nobody gets in the Hall of Fame without a lot of good people surrounding them. I feel very lucky that I had a lot of great mentors throughout my career and bottom line is I hope I was and can be a great mentor back so that they can reach this level at some point.”