A British-Jamaican Olympic athlete made history when he became one of 10 people inducted into the first “Made In Derby” Walk of Fame in Derby, England.
Kingston, Jamaica-born Louis George Martin, MBE, considered one of Britain’s greatest-ever weightlifter, was inducted over the past weekend posthumously.
Part of Windrush generation
Martin was from the Windrush generation and his family immigrated to England in the mid-1950s and settled in Derby, today the UK’s number one hi-tech city and home to many global brands such as Rolls-Royce, Toyota and Bombardier.
Martin began training as a body builder and went on to represent both Jamaica and his adopted homeland, Britain, and won them several titles in the -90 kg competition.
His honors were as follows:
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1960 Rome -90 kg
Silver medal – second place 1964 Tokyo -90 kg
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1959 Warsaw -90 kg
Silver medal – second place 1961 Austria -90 kg
Gold medal – first place 1962 Budapest -90 kg
Gold medal – first place 1963 Stockholm -90 kg
Silver medal – second place 1964 Tokyo -90 kg
Gold medal – first place 1965 Tehran -90 kg
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1959 Warsaw -90 kg
Silver medal – second place 1961 Vienna -90 kg
Gold medal – first place 1962 Budapest -90 kg
Gold medal – first place 1963 Stockholm -90 kg
Gold medal – first place 1965 Sofia -90 kg
Representing England
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 1962 Perth -90 kg
Gold medal – first place 1966 Kingston -90 kg
Gold medal – first place 1970 Edinburgh -90 kg
Martin died on January 16, 2015 at the age of 78.
His inclusion as one of the individuals chosen by Derby residents from over 300 submissions for induction into the Walk of Fame represents one more historic attainment for him.
His son, Dr. Richard Martin, who is Debry City’s assistant director of public health, said he and his wife were “still pinching ourselves” after hearing about the honor bestowed on his father.
Lion of a man
Dr. Martin described his father as “a lion of a man and a giant in so many ways.”
“He had intellectual and sporting prowess among numerous other qualities,” Jamaicans.com quoted him as saying.
The “Made in Derby” trail combines public art with computer-generated data that tells the city’s story through those individuals who made significant contributions.
Other inductees
Football management duo Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, actor John Hurt and Suffragette Alice Wheeldon, who was jailed for plotting to kill former British prime minister David Lloyd George in 1917, were also inducted. The star plaques have been embedded into the city center’s Albion Street and Exchange Street.
Visitors can bring the stars to life using augmented reality by scanning them with their smartphones. The augmented reality portion of the trail engages visitors by showing how a person contributed to the essence of Derby through the “Made in Derby App,” which provides a computer-generated image superimposed on the visitor’s view of the real world to provide additional information.
Derby is the first city in Europe to utilize this technology in the Walk of Fame, a joint project of the Derby City Council, Derby Telegraph and local business leaders.
Chair of the Selection Panel and Editor of the Derby Telegraph, Steve Hall, said: “Derby is a city with a fantastic heritage but perhaps we have been guilty of not celebrating the achievements of our most influential sons and daughters as much, or as publicly, as we should. Made in Derby tells the story of some of those who made our city such a fantastic place. We hope it will be a source of pride and inspiration.”
