A track-and-field Olympian and former national record holder, Roy “Robot” Martin, 57, has had his medals and trophies stolen from a Dallas public storage facility. Martin is pleading for the return of these prized possessions, which were taken late last month amid a series of break-ins at the facility, according to Fox 4 Dallas.
“They’ve been having some break-ins. This time when they hit my storage, they took everything,” the superstar sprinter told the outlet. “All my clothes. All my memorabilia. Everything that I made history that I was going to give to my grandkids to let them enjoy, somebody just took it.”
Martin’s storage unit was one of three burglarized on the same day, according to Fox 4 Dallas. The Texas native stored his awards and honors in the unit due to limited space at his home.
“At the time, I lived around the corner. And I put my stuff in here. And where I moved to, it was just not enough room to keep everything. So I felt safe because it’s on the inside of a secured facility,” Martin shared.
The former Olympian said losing all his belongings from his competitive days has left him broken. “Your stomach turns. Your gut hurts,” he told the outlet. “And it’s like why me? I mean, what’s the purpose of it?”
As the police investigate the break-ins, Martin pleads for the return of his stolen prized possessions.
“Please bring it back. No questions asked. Just bring it back, and all is forgiven,” he stated. “It means the world to me. That’s my legacy. That’s my history. If I want to tell my story, it was in that storage right there.”
Martin gained prominence in the track and field community in the mid-1980s while attending Roosevelt High School in Dallas. He became a three-time state champion and set the national record for the 200-meter sprint during his senior year at the Track and Field Championships in Austin.
“My senior year, I set the national record. Ran the 19.74 in the 200 meters. And that stood for 33 years until Noah Lyles broke it in 2014,” Martin shared. “And then my biggest accomplishment was when I made the Olympic team as a junior in high school, the only one in history who can say that.”
The track sensation narrowly missed making the USA Track and Field team for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, finishing fourth in the 200-meter race trials. He was named Track and Field News “High School Athlete of the Year” in 1984 and 1985, becoming the first male athlete to win the award twice.
He later enrolled at Southern Methodist University, where he played a key role in the team’s 1986 NCAA track and field championship win, delivering a resounding victory with a 43.5-second relay carry. After SMU’s championship win, coach Ralph White told The New York Times that Martin was the “best pure sprinter” he had ever seen, even surpassing two-time Olympic gold medalist and former Dallas Cowboys receiver Bob Hayes.
Martin debuted in the 1988 Seoul Olympics but finished sixth in the 200-meter dash semifinals. He retired from sprinting after his first Olympics appearance. He was inducted into the Texas Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Dallas Independent School District Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019.
However, the cherished history he earned is now gone.
“I earned all that. Everything I accomplished, I earned it. And that was my history. Now, my history is gone,” he told Fox 4.
