Sgt. Martinez Memorial Scholarship Run and Golf Tournament set for May 28

MONTE VISTA — The 12th annual 5K Run/Walk and Veterans Golf Tournament will be held at the Monte Vista Golf Course on Saturday, May 28. All proceeds benefit the Sgt. Glen E. Martinez Memorial Scholarship Fund, in which $1,000 scholarships will be awarded to a senior boy and senior girl of Monte Vista High School.

The 5K run/walk will begin on Saturday, May 28 at 7 a.m. at the Monte Vista Golf Course and will include breakfast, t-shirt and ribbons (eight different age groups). Cost is $20 pre-registration or $25 day of the event. Deadline for mail-in registration and online registration is May 25. Send mail-in registration to P.O. Box 181, Monte Vista, CO 81144 and register online at www.glenmartinez.org. For more information, call Ron or Carol at 719-850-3758 or 719-849-1830.

The Veterans Golf Tournament will begin on Saturday, May 28 at 10 a.m., shotgun start at the Monte Vista Golf Course. It will be a 4-man team scramble, 18 holes and will cost $180 per team. The tournament is limited to 18 teams. The cost is $45 for singles; they will be grouped up. The cost includes golf cart (limited to 18 carts), team entry fee, complimentary range balls, and a gift certificate for first and second place teams and lunch after the golf tournament. To sign up or for more information, call Michelle or Grace at the Monte Vista Pro-shop, 719-628-0130.

Martinez was a Sgt. in the United States Marine Corps when he and three other Marines were killed in action on May 2, 2008, while on a combat mission. The Humvee they were riding in hit a roadside bomb in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq.

Martinez knew the value of education and the value of physical fitness. Growing up in Monte Vista, he participated in nearly every sport available including football, wrestling and baseball. He played in the band and was an excellent student. He was quarterback for the Pirate football team for three years and competed four years on the state wrestling team and played baseball all four years. Glen chose to play baseball for Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kan. on an academic and baseball scholarship where he earned his bachelor’s in mathematics.

He subsequently earned a surveying degree from Westwood College and was going to work on his Master’s in Hydro-Engineering at Boulder, Colorado University, when he made his decision to join the Marine Corps.

Living in Boulder, he explained, “he got tired of hearing people cutting down his country,” so he decided to do something positive. He could have gone directly into officer candidate school but chose to start at the bottom like all the other recruits. Should he go on to command, Sgt. Martinez said, he wanted to have hands-on experience rather than classroom philosophy.

“I want those I command to know that I have been where they are,” he said in an interview just after basic training. He was ready for whatever came. After a childhood filled with the challenge of athletic competition, staying in peak physical shape was second nature to him and he strongly supported the discipline and leadership skills learned on the mat, football field, baseball diamond and the school room.