Giving Back Solidifies Anya Martin’s Growing Legacy At UMass

Throughout the month of February, NESN and Berkshire Bank are proud to celebrate Black History Month — honoring the many accomplishments and achievements of Black Americans in New England sports. To see all the great stories celebrated on NESN and NESN.com, visit NESN.com/BlackHistoryMonth.

Frank Martin thought he knew what was coming when he was at a local restaurant enjoying a dinner with his family a month after being named the UMass men’s basketball coach in March 2022.

A young woman approached Martin’s table and the longtime successful coach readied himself to take the picture or sign an autograph like he had done thousands of times before.

But Martin wasn’t the desired subject of this fan. Instead, she was more interested in introducing herself to his wife, Anya Martin, a former UMass track star whose picture hangs in the women’s track and field team’s locker room.

“The kids are looking and they’re laughing and they’re saying, ‘Hey dad, how does that feel? She cared nothing about who you were,'” Anya Martin recalled to NESN.com. “Little role reversal.”

There was no jealously on Frank’s part in that moment. He was more than pleased to step out of the spotlight and let it shine on his wife.

“I felt so good for her because my children got to experience the fact that their mom was a very successful individual and she sacrificed her career to help me chase mine,” Frank told NESN.com. “That was a powerful moment and it’s continued since we’ve been here.”

Anya called UMass home long before her husband got a job at the school. The New York City native arrived on the Amherst, Mass., campus in the mid-1990s and overcame adversity to put together an illustrious athletic career before graduating in 1998.

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By the time the Atlantic 10 Conference champion hurdler and sprinter left UMass, she held school records in the 55-meter and 100-meter hurdles. But what Anya might be most proud of in her tremendous career was returning to competition for her senior season after being sidelined for a year and a half due to two fractured vertebrae, which kept her in a back brace for a year.

“It was amazing just for me to come back and do that,” Anya said. “It’s far beyond a dream come true. Definitely a blessing.”

Anya met Frank when he was just an assistant with Northeastern in the early 2000s. She worked at the school as an assistant director of financial services while getting her master’s degree.

Frank’s coaching career took them all over the country, with stops at Cincinnati and Kansas State. He was then at the helm for a decade at South Carolina, where he posted a 171-147 record and guided the Gamecocks to the Final Four in 2017.

Anya never imagined their journey together would bring her back to UMass. She’s filled with nostalgia every time she steps foot on campus and — much to her children’s chagrin, she says — has plenty of stories about the “good old days” that she willingly shares with them.

But Anya isn’t living in the past. She’s using her status as a former standout UMass student-athlete to focus on making a difference and give back, something she frankly did prior to returning.

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Several years ago, Anya made a donation to the UMass women’s track and field program. At her husband’s insistence, the contribution was made in her maiden name of Forrest.

“When we’re young, we think it’s about us. When we get older, we realize it’s about giving back and that’s part of the educational process,” Frank said. “Obviously, that’s something that she understands clearly and I fully understand and I fully support. That’s why I’m so proud.”

Anya gives more than just financial assistance to the program she captained as a senior. She spends time around the team, offering a listening ear or giving advice if asked.

Her mission is simple: Leave the program in a better state than when she donned the maroon and white.

“(Former UMass track coach) Julie LaFreniere was able to get the team together, have me around the team a little bit,” Anya said. “And just hearing their stories and just looking at their faces and hearing their sob stories also, I’m just like, ‘I just want to help them any way I can. I want to be a part of the legacy.’ I want to be that person when I’m not around, they’re still talking about me. That means so much to me.”

She added: “I want them to have more than what I had in order to produce more.”

Anya didn’t think much of being a role model when she left a field of runners behind her in college en route to a first-place finish. But she knows she carries that label now. It’s one she wears proudly, hoping to help whoever crosses her path.

“Just seeing somebody that looks like you makes you believe,” she said, “that, yes, this is something that could be within my grasp.”