Manuel Martinez: Unelected community leader

OTHELLO — Some community leaders serve on city councils, school boards and hospital boards, and others are members of civic organizations such as Lions and Kiwanis.

Still others, like Manuel Martinez of Othello, become community leaders not by election or membership dues but by quietly providing a service others may not see as a service at all.

Martinez is the man who organized the Othello Soccer League 22 years ago. He is still the leader of the organization that offers hundreds of people an organized way to recreate and exercise, with a purpose.

Martinez was a player in the beginning. He stopped playing after the league’s needs began to grow and he came into his 40s.

The league is far-flung with teams in Ephrata, Quincy, Moses Lake, Royal City, Mattawa, Basin City and Othello. Some years there are as many as 32 teams.

This year’s first division winner was a Moses Lake team, which defeated a Mattawa team in the championship tournament final. During league play, a Royal City team finished second to the Moses Lake team.

Although Martinez was born in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, he was not born to soccer. He grew up in Othello, where soccer was still a foreign game. He became a U.S. citizen in 1985, the same year he graduated from Othello High School.

“I was really fast in school, and the coaches recruited me for football,” Martinez said.

It took some doing. Martinez’s single mom didn’t want him to play. She feared he’d be hurt, and she needed him to work to help her make ends meet.

He got to play after the school found him a job in the school laundry room. He eventually became a star with the high school team.

In 1984 Martinez was punting to Prosser in a key game. Prosser linemen broke through, and Martinez sensed he wouldn’t get the kick off. He ran straight up the middle untouched and scored from 98 yards for the winning score. Othello went on to the state playoffs.

Martinez wrestled in winter and had a fairly good career. But it was for track that Martinez is most recognized. He set a school record of 39.28 seconds in the 300 hurdles.

Martinez was introduced to organized soccer at the age of 12, the same year he started playing football. He was the sweeper for an age-group recreational team.

“I’d catch up to people and take the ball away,” he said.

Martinez stayed with the same team after high school, playing in a league in Pasco. His first experience with organization came when he joined that league’s justice committee.

Martinez had to deal with a justice issue during this year’s tournament. The winner of a lower division final used an ineligible player, and he didn’t know of it until afterward. He ended up declaring a split championship and handed out dual trophies.

“I didn’t want to take it away from the team I originally gave it to,” he said.

Martinez organized the OSL in 1994 because of the distance to Pasco. Tri-Cities teams didn’t want to travel, he said. There were seven teams that first year of the OSL. They played each other twice.

Martinez was president through 1997. He let go of the presidency in 1998 and concentrated on playing and his own team. But all of the players knew he was still the shaker and mover.

He became president again in 2009 and remains in that post. He stopped playing that year.

The OSL is organized like professional soccer leagues around the world. There are one, two, three or four divisions, depending on how many teams there are overall.

The purpose of the divisions is to equalize competition. The first division has the best teams, which are determined after the previous year’s play.

The OSL plays on Saturdays and Sundays at Lions Park in Othello and Taggares Park just outside of Othello. Games are also played in the other communities with teams in the league. Games draw as many as 1,000 people – players and fans.

“That’s people from out of town buying gas and food, eating at the local restaurants,” Martinez said. “We are good for the economy.”

Martinez added that the OSL keeps a lot of young men out of trouble. With OSL they have something to do, an outlet for stress after a week of work. And they get valuable exercise at games and practices.

Martinez has given the league and its players stature with membership in the Washington State Adult Soccer Association. Every player pays $35 to carry a WSASA card.

Membership in the WSASA gives the league $2 million in liability insurance to protect the fields on which they play. It also gives each player medical coverage while playing.

From the $35, Martinez gets $5. That generates $3,500-4,000 each year. It may sound like a lot, but Martinez said it doesn’t begin to cover the time he puts in. There is a lot of administration to meet all of the WSASA’s and players’ requirements. And there is travel.

On the other hand, Martinez benefits from the league as an arbiter. He might spend six hours in Quincy refereeing two games for $80. To keep league costs under control, he works without linesmen.

“You’d better run, buddy because if you don’t, they’re all over you,” Martinez said.

Martinez doesn’t know how much longer he’ll run the OSL, maybe until he dies. He simply loves it, and he’s only 50.

“I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t run it,” he said.