Clay Martin

Clay Martin
Clay Martin at Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Atlanta Falcons (November 24, 2019)
BornApril 1975 (age 49)
Pensacola, Florida, U.S.
OccupationNFL official (2015–)

Clay Martin is an American professional football official in the National Football League (NFL). He wears uniform number 19. He entered the league in the 2015 season as an umpire, and was promoted to referee for the 2018 season, following the retirements of Terry McAulay and Gene Steratore.[1]

Martin was born in Pensacola, Florida where his father, an officer in the United States Marine Corps, was stationed as a flight instructor after his return from Vietnam. Martin's family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma where Martin attended Tulsa Public Schools. Martin graduated from Nathan Hale High School where he was an All-State Football and Basketball player.

Outside of his NFL duties, Martin works as a high school basketball coach at Jenks High School in Jenks, Oklahoma.[1] He also attended Oklahoma Baptist University where he played basketball for the Bison. Not only is he in the OBU Hall of Fame for his basketball accomplishments, he is also in the Tulsa Public Schools Hall of Fame for the same reasons. He is married to Shannon Martin and they have two kids: McKenzie, born in 2001, and Chase, born in 2003. Martin is a Christian.[2]

Martin was diagnosed with COVID-19 on December 21, 2020,[3] and became hospitalized on December 31, 2020.[4] He was discharged within a week,[4] and returned to officiate a divisional playoff game on January 17, 2021.[5]

  1. ^ a b Filipe, Cameron (July 6, 2018). "Umpire Clay Martin is the NFL's newest referee". Football Zebras. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  2. ^ Pease, Joshua. "Clay Martin's faith and the challenging job of an NFL referee". Sports Spectrum. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  3. ^ Florio, Mike (January 2, 2021). "Referee Clay Martin is hospitalized with COVID-19". NBCSports.com. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Williams, Charean (January 4, 2021). "NFL referee Clay Martin released from hospital". NBCSports.com. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  5. ^ Florio, Mike (January 17, 2021). "Hospitalized this month with COVID-19, Clay Martin is the Browns-Chiefs referee". NBCSports.com. Retrieved March 13, 2021.