Alumni in Action

Josh Martin is the epitome of a Renaissance man: an Ivy League scholar, a former professional athlete, a world traveler, and an entrepreneur. The 2009 graduate of Cherokee Trail High School says his success in school, sports, business, and life, started at home.

“I definitely attribute my success to my upbringing and my parents,” said Martin, who is the oldest of six children. “Both of my parents are educators, so academics were stressed in our family tremendously, and they were supportive in everything myself and my siblings did.”

The family moved to Colorado when Martin was in fifth grade. He attended Cottonwood Creek Elementary and Campus Middle School. Before he entered high school, the Martins moved to the east side of the Cherry Creek School District, and he and his siblings became Cherokee Trail Cougars.

Martin flourished at Cherokee Trail, where he was part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, played first chair trombone in the Jazz Band, made the district Honor Band, and played football and basketball. Martin said his football coach, Monte Thelen, always told his student athletes that “Hard work pays off,” something Martin took to heart.

“Everyone has their obstacles and challenges and privileges, but at the end of the day, those who want it more, get it,” Martin said.

Before graduation, Martin committed to play football at the University of Wyoming, but then decided he needed to see how far his International Baccalaureate education would take him. In the end, it took him to the Ivy League, to Columbia University in Manhattan.

“I believe the academic rigor of the IB program at Cherokee Trail certainly prepared me, at the very least, to gain admission to a com- petitive institution like Columbia,” Martin recalled. But it didn’t necessarily prepare him for the challenge of leaving his close-knit family, moving across the country, and going head-tohead with the best and brightest minds in the country.

“I consider myself a good student, but I really struggled at Columbia. Being at such a competitive institution, where everyone’s top of their class, they’re smart and they’re the best at what they do, that was a challenge. It was very humbling, honestly.”

In addition to studying anthropology at Columbia, Martin was also playing football. He discovered that it gave him a much-needed escape from academics.

“That’s when I began to fall in love with the game. If you’re doing something that you love, you’re putting your heart and soul into it. You give yourself the best shot to play at the next level,” said Martin, who was a three-year starter at Columbia and earned All-Ivy League honors. By the time graduation arrived, Martin was eyeing the NFL.

“All my friends were interviewing for jobs on Wall Street, and I was in the stadium running sprints and cone drills, you name it, trying to make it to the league.”

Shortly after the 2013 NFL draft ended, Martin got a call from Andy Reid, who was in his first year as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.

“My heart was pounding through my chest, my eyes were watering, and he said, “We’d like to have you on the team and bring you in to compete,’” Martin recalled. “It was just the beginning, but that moment is something that will live with me forever.”

What followed was “an incredible seven years” according to Martin, who played two years for the Chiefs, three seasons with the Jets, and ended his professional football career with the Saints.

“That crowd noise, the atmosphere. Those are the moments you don’t forget,” he said. Martin’s football career gave him the time and the means to travel the world during the off-season. His anthropology degree and the experiences he had in CCSD allowed him to make the most of his journeys.

“I really appreciate how my education has allowed me to immerse myself in different cultures in a way I don’t think I would have been able to otherwise,” Martin said.

After retiring from the NFL, Martin worked as a college football producer and sideline reporter for CBS Sports, created his own vlog series on YouTube, and began to explore entrepreneurship. He and his girlfriend and their two dogs recently moved from the Big Apple to Denver, where Martin and his sister, Gabby Martin, are opening several Smoothie King locations, the first in Northfield, the second in Green Valley Ranch, and the third in the Denver Tech Center. The shops will sell fresh smoothies and healthy snacks.

“It was a great fit, being a health and wellness smoothie brand, with my health and wellness background, and it’s a tremendous opportunity to build in Colorado, which has a very active, healthy, outdoorsy culture,” Martin said.

Martin, who serves on the Board of Directors of the Harlem School of the Arts, is also looking to get more involved in community and philanthropic organizations in the Denver area.

“I’m excited to be back, to be a part of this community again, and have the chance to make a positive impact,” he said.