Howell Puts Heart Into Memorial Meet

Gracelin Martin can actually point to the moment where she glimpsed the rest of her professional life.

The current Greenville senior had just completed her first full season of working as a play-by-play broadcaster for radio station WGLM, and her watchful eyes took in the moments following a tense Lowell-Greenville basketball game. If she hadn't figured it out before, it dawned on Martin she loved it all: the back-and-forth of the game's action, the noisy crowd and the responsibility of detailing into a live mic what she was witnessing while looking forward to interviewing the participants afterward.

It was right about that moment that Martin decided the whole frantic atmosphere would be paramount in her future.

"I felt very accomplished," she said. "I didn't think a person so young could be in this role. I was kind of proud of myself."

Martin wasn't even 18 years old when longtime Greenville public address announcer and WGLM employee Bill Wilson noticed this eager young teenager with obvious people-person skills chatting easily with friends when an idea popped into his mind. The station needed someone to replace Serena Schroeder, another young student sideline reporter at Greenville football and basketball games who was going off to Michigan State. Wilson engaged Martin, and his suspicions were quickly confirmed. This, Wilson thought, was what he was seeking.

"He said I had this bubbly personality and would I consider broadcasting football and basketball games," said Martin, a basketball, track and cross country letter winner at Greenville. "Without hesitating, I said yes. I was 100-percent down with it.

"I saw an opportunity and took it. I never knew what could come of it."

So despite being just a 15-year-old high school sophomore with absolutely no radio background, Martin quickly fell in love with everything about the business of being a sideline reporter in football and a play-by-play broadcaster in basketball.

Wilson, who works Greenville football, basketball, track and soccer games, said he knew nothing of Martin at first except remembering seeing her play varsity basketball as a freshman. It wasn't her voice, mannerisms or really anything else that immediately leaped out at him. It was simply a sixth sense about matching up an obviously effervescent personality with a microphone.

"I had never met her, but I knew we were looking for someone to replace Serena and things just kind of clicked," he said. "She has this good personality, I thought she could be the one. She said she was interested, and it went from there."

Martin admits there was a definite gamble in being a teenage novice with a microphone thrust in front of her mixing with longtime coaches and athletes who doubled as high school friends. Would she freeze, stutter, flub questions, seem obviously underqualified or, worst of all, unprepared?

But by doing her homework and always being prepared, Martin found she easily could hit on the information she needed through interviews.

"The thought definitely crossed my mind," she said of the whole idea being a gamble. "I didn't know football inside-out like I knew basketball. I put pressure on myself to learn. But really, I felt ease from the beginning."

Dixon Huiet works as a WGLM analyst for Greenville football broadcasts. Part of a three-person crew, Huiet said Martin has an innate ability to grasp what intricacies fans need to know about what's happening on a football field or basketball court. The ability to pair the flow of a game with what fans want to know about what's happening is critical, he said.

"She's very fluid in understanding what needs to happen as a sideline reporter," he said. "And she knows how to step up, take the lead in broadcasting the play-by-play of a basketball game.

"She's come so far. She understands where to go and if she doesn't get the answer she wants, she can pivot. She's worked at it and evolved, and that's a skill."

Martin is astute enough to recognize where she can find help in improving as a broadcaster. She's noticed, for instance, how ESPN and ABC broadcaster Holly Rowe or the Big Ten Network's Dannie Rogers conduct their business on TV. Toss in tips from Schroeder, who recently graduated from Michigan State with a communications degree, and the confidence shown by Wilson and Huiet, and Martin feels comfortable in the business.

All broadcasters start somewhere, and Martin knows she's lucky enough to have started by interviewing coaches and athletes she's known for years. It's a crucial early stepping-stone which Martin doesn't underestimate.

"I knew a lot of the coaches and players from school and watched women like Holly and Dannie, and I thought this was something I could do," she said. "Honestly, you see a lot of females on TV, and bringing them into the broadcast business is a good thing. I enjoy learning from people who are better than me."

Martin’s upcoming plans include running cross country and track while entering Cornerstone University's communication program.

After honing skills in college, Martin said, who knows where her path will lead?

"I feel like not everything will be easy," she said, "but this will set me up and pave the road ahead."

PHOTOS (Top) Gracelin Martin interviews Greenville football coach Scott McDougall during a game this past season. (Middle) Martin receives “Senior Night” recognition from WGLM’s Bill Wilson and Will Wydeck this winter. (Below) Martin describes the action for her audience. (Photos provided by the Greenville athletic department.)