By PETE BANDA
Special to the NEWS
For over three decades, San Benito native Elias Martinez has been the benchmark of excellence for most Valley coaches.
With a plethora of accolades and records already to his name, Martinez has earned one of the highest honors in Valley sports.
The longtime skipper for the Lady ’Hounds softball squad, who also spent a few years with Harlingen South, has been named a 2023 Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame Inductee.
Martinez is not only the winningest softball coach in the Valley’s history, his 622 victories ranks in the top six for the entire state. The 11-time district coach of the year is set to be one of just 290 iconic Valley sports figures to enter the RGV Hall of Fame since their initial class in 1985. Despite his endless list of achievements, Martinez maintains his latest honor is more about the people surrounding him than an individual award.
“It starts with the support I’ve gotten throughout my career from my wife Arcelia, my family and from the community,” said Martinez. “We’ve, of course, been blessed with some really special athletes over the years because none of it would be possible without the girls that have come through here over the years… I see this as a family induction and a program induction more than an individual induction.”
Born and raised in the Resaca City, Martinez helped start the softball program in San Benito in 1994. Since then, the Lady ’Hounds became the first Valley team to make it to the Sweet 16, which they did 17 times under Martinez, as well as the only Valley team to make it to the State Final Four twice.
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