Famously called ‘The Glue,’ seems like Kate Martin knows how to make a family everywhere she goes. She has stepped up every time Iowa needed help and stepped aside every time she realized that was the best for the team. Kate has a huge selfless sportsmanship quality and a lot of love and care to give her fellow Hawkeyes. But she also has some decent basketball skills to present to her audience. With more and more attention coming her way, fans also want to know who her family is.
The Iowa fame was born to Jill and Matthew Martin. Her father, Matt, was a football player at Western Illinois Leathernecks. While he could not prolong his career for long, he continued to impart his athleticism to his kids. He is also a high school football coach at Edwardsville (Ill.) High School. To add more to his accomplishments, several of his pupils have represented his skills in the Division I tournaments. A.J. Epenesa, the defensive end for the Buffalo Bills in the NFL is also one of his students.
The family of five also includes Kennedy and Trevor Martin, Kate’s siblings. The sister Kennedy is also a basketball player and is a part of the Bulldogs at Truman State, a Division-II basketball team.
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Coming from a sports-oriented family, Kate is also a tackle football player which she played in elementary school. Later, she took up volleyball and basketball. Certainly, basketball remained her ally as she contributed 16.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.13 steals on average as a senior at Edwardsville High School, Illinois. 4 regional titles, an immaculate career record of 122-6, and a runner-up position for the state title also trailed her time at the high school. Following in her father’s footsteps, Martin is also part of the WBCA’s program, in hopes of becoming a spectacular coach.
However, forever a Lisa Bluder and Iowa fan, she decided to enter her dream school– the University of Iowa. In fact, she created a family in the roster as well.
Kate Martin and her Hawkeye family
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“She’s going to have your back every single day,” the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer and fellow Hawkeye Caitlin Clark had some special words for the fifth-year senior. But even before she met the Iowa team we know, she was always a name on Lisa Bluder’s list. In fact, the two have known each other since Kate Martin was 6 years old. She would go to the Iowa basketball camps.
Iowa WBB’s associate coach Jan Jensen is married to Martin’s aunt Julie Fitzpatrick, bringing her even closer to the Hawkeyes. However, no such thing affected her selection on the team as she was separately evaluated by other analysts. Fast forward to today, Kate Martin has proven time and again how much she appreciates what Iowa has done for her. As she enters her final week as a Hawkeye, being a fifth-year senior, she vows to give her best to everyone.
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Entering into the 2024 March Madness, she has performed incredibly well to be the third-best scorer on the team. In the last four games, she has contributed 14.25 points, 9.75 rebounds, and 1.25 assists in 32.5 minutes on the floor. What she chooses next is not really known yet. But you can watch Kate Martin in Phoenix tonight as the team tries to take over the UConn Huskies. Until then, what are your thoughts on her family?