BEAVER TOWNSHIP — As one of the late head coach Ed DiGregorio’s ‘Fab 5′ recruits for the 1994-95 season, Ann Marie Martin became one of the mainstays of Youngstown State women’s basketball, and a group that helped put the Penguins’ hardwood program on the national map.

During her four years (1994-98) on the YSU campus, she helped lead the team to an 88-29 overall mark (.752) and a 56-12 (.824) Mid-Continent Conference ledger.

She finished her career ranked in the top-10 in program history in points scored (1,631) and was 11th overall with 711 rebounds.

She is remembered as one of the most prolific free-throw shooters in program history, having canned 303 of 369 career attempts (821).

She credits DiGregorio for helping her achieve her goals.

“Coach D made me set goals, and one was to be perfect from the foul line. He knew that I would be fouled quite often,” Martin told the Curbstone Coaches during Monday’s meeting at Avion Banquet Center. “One day in practice, he stood next to me, watched, shouted and talked to me while I was shooting at the line. I turned and talked to him then proceeded to miss the next shot. He gave me a love tap on the cheek and said, ‘No talking on the foul line because you lose concentration.’ I never forgot that lesson.”

Martin averaged 13.9 points and 6.1 rebounds in 117 career games, making 104 starts.

With 175 assists, 146 steals and 72 blocks to her credit, she was anything but one-dimensional, and DiGregorio took notice of that potential from the time she was a scholastic star at Parma Valley Forge High.

“Goals have always led me through my sports journey, beginning in high school and then at YSU,” Martin said. “Coach D always challenged us to do our best and to work as hard as possible. He would yell at us, then turn around and hug us. Once during my senior year, he called me into his office and said this team will go as you go. You are the leader, my captain for a reason and I need you. He made me want to be the best player that I could be, especially that year. We made two NCAA tournament appearances, and my senior year, we upset Memphis University so all of our hard work paid off.”

She earned her undergraduate degree in education-secondary science in 1999, later earning her MA in curriculum instruction from Ashland University. When her eligibility ended and she graduated from YSU, she coached several seasons on the high school and collegiate levels.

Now in her 26th year as a teacher in the Austintown School System – she spent 15 years at the high school and is at the middle school, where she teaches eighth grade science.

Martin gravitated to officiating when her coaching days drew to a close, and over the past three decades has become a highly-respected official, serving as a basketball, track and field, volleyball and lacrosse arbiter.

She has officiated basketball for 19 years, worked over 1,000 games and will work her seventh state tournament in March. She has 500-plus games worked on her lacrosse resume over the past 15 years, with volleyball and track also combining for well over 500 assignments.

“When I first started officiating, I wanted to give back to the sport I love and that was basketball,” Martin said.”I wanted to help the next generation learn the game and fall in love with it like I did. During the COVID pandemic, however, games stopped and a lot of kids stopped playing or chose, so it seemed, to do something else.

“After COVID, the sport just changed. We have lost 20-30 officials each year, and it has gotten to the point where games have had to be rescheduled due to a lack of officials. Some is due to fans constantly yelling at officials and sometimes the coaches. Officials are tired of being yelled at and just want to enjoy what they do, but it becomes harder to do that. We don’t really have any younger people that want to officiate and put in the time to become better at the craft.”

Next Monday, Doug Kuberski, YSU bowling coach, will serve as guest speaker.