George Martin (football player)

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George Martin
Date of birth	February 16, 1953
Place of birth	Greenville, South Carolina
Position(s)	Defensive End
College	Oregon
NFL Draft	1988 / Round 11/ Pick 262
Statistics	DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1975-1988	New York Giants

George Dwight Martin (born February 16, 1953, in Greenville, South Carolina) is a former American football defensive end who played his entire career for the NFL's New York Giants (1975-1988), missing only six games in those 14 years (not counting games not played in because of strikes). He played college football for Oregon in the then Pacific-8 Conference and was drafted by the Giants in the 11th round in 1975 (262nd pick overall). In January 1987, Martin was one of the team captains for the Super Bowl XXI champions; late in the second quarter, Martin sacked Denver QB John Elway in the end zone for a safety, cutting the Broncos' lead to 10-9 (which would remain the score at halftime).

In November 1985, Martin became the NFL’s all-time leader in touchdowns scored by a defensive lineman (DL), with 5, when he returned an interception for 56 yards against the St. Louis Cardinals. (He had previously been tied at 4 with former Dallas Cowboy defensive tackle Bob Lilly.) In the following championship season, Martin became the league’s career leader in TDs scored by a DL as a DL (at 6) when he returned an interception for 78 yards and 6 points (also against Denver’s Elway), a feat which Giant head coach Bill Parcells has called the "greatest football play I've ever seen."{^[1]}

Martin’s 7 NFL TDs came on 3 interception returns, 2 fumble returns/recoveries, one lateral return following a blocked field goal, and one offensive pass reception (in 1980, lining up as a tight end). (In November 2006, Miami’s All-Pro defensive end Jason Taylor broke Martin’s career record by notching his 7th defensive touchdown after intercepting a Brad Johnson pass.)

In addition, Martin amassed over 80 quarterback sacks in his Giants career (his official NFL total is 46), during which time he was generally regarded as one of the league's most feared pass rushers. In 2004, he was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey.