Bill Martineson’s Baylor story started with speed, and it ended with a place in the university’s Hall of Fame nearly eight decades later.
The former Bears sprinter, who was posthumously elected to the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the 2026 class, was never a giant by the standards of the track. His son, CW Martineson, remembered him as “maybe 5-7, at best, 145 pounds, with a size 6 ½ (shoe). He was built like Bruce Lee.”
But on the track, Martineson left a mark that made him Baylor’s first track and field All-American. After coming to Waco following World War II, he finished fourth in the 100-yard dash and fifth in the 220 yards at the 1946 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Minneapolis, Minn.
That same season, he anchored Baylor’s 4x110-yard relay team with J.D. Isacks, James McBilberry and Stoney Cotton as the Bears won the Southwest Conference championship, the Texas Relays and the Kansas Relays.
He also won the 100-yard title at the 1946 Drake Relays.
Martineson closed out his Baylor career with more big results. In his final year, he placed third in the 100 and fifth in the 220 at the NCAA Championships and won the 100-yard dash at the 1947 Texas Relays with a sub-10.0-second time.
CW Martineson said his father did not talk much about those days, but he understood how much Baylor meant to him. “I know it meant a lot to him to go to Baylor University,” CW said.
“(After World War II), he happily went to Baylor because it was a lot more peaceful. He didn't say much about the track, but he said it was tough, it was fun and it was competitive.
It was something that was near and dear to his heart. He would be very, very proud, and I'm very proud since I'm a part of his life.”
After Baylor, Dr. Martineson earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Montana and later received a doctorate from New Mexico State University.
He built a career in education, serving as a dean “in upstate New York,” at New Mexico State and at Merced College, where he was the California college’s second president for 11 years. He spent his later years in Montana and died on June 3, 2010, at 87 in Missoula.
CW carried out one final wish for his father by sprinkling his ashes “over a bay in Scotland.”
CW’s own path to Baylor never quite matched his father’s, but he made the attempt. After getting out of the military in 1989, he returned to a junior college in California, where he was Player of the Year, then drove to Waco and shot like 69-70 trying out for the golf team under coach Gene Shields. He made the team, but Baylor’s academic standards stopped the process there.
“When I got out of the military in 1989, I went back to a junior college in California and luckily, I was Player of the Year,” CW said. “So, I drove out to Waco and shot like 69-70.
I made the team, but Coach Shields said, 'Son, a 2.67 GPA doesn't get you into Baylor.' But he called the coach at Oklahoma City University, and I ended up playing there.
So, I'm grateful to Baylor all the way around. I'm an OU fan, but Baylor is still my No.
1.”
Now a golf and ski instructor in Utah, CW will return for the Hall of Fame banquet with two of his brothers, Tim and Reno, along with Bill’s last wife, Bertha. “I'm excited about coming and representing Dad,” he said. “I haven't actually been back to Waco since I tried out for the golf team.”
Martineson is part of a 2026 Baylor Hall of Fame class that also includes track and field’s Trayvon Bromell and Tiffani McReynolds, “Voice of the Bears” John Morris, football’s Corey Coleman, basketball’s Quincy Acy, baseball’s Zane Carlson and women’s golf’s Hayley Davis. Former Waco Mayor and Texas Senator David Sibley will be added to the Wall of Honor and will be recognized with the Hall of Fame inductees on the field at the Nov. 21 Baylor-Tech football game.
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