8. Casey Martin: Unassuming Pioneer

The Mighty Oregon Podcast

It’s been over 20 years since Oregon men’s golf coach Casey Martin was at the heart of one of golf’s biggest controversies. Martin wanted to play golf at the highest levels and needed a golf cart to do so because of a disability. The Professional Golf Association had other ideas and challenged Martin in a case that eventually reached the Supreme Court. The biggest names in professional golf were against him. But all Martin wanted was a shot to compete, and he would’ve gladly traded a cart for a healthy leg and to just be a normal golfer. It’s been a long time since his media exposure for challenging the PGA Tour and bringing the American Disabilities Act into the sports world. Instead of a sports pioneer, most Duck fans identify Martin as the leader of their men’s golf program, a program that won a national championship on the course he grew up on, the Eugene Country Club, in 2016.

Martin has been through it all and seen a lot, but he would have preferred to just be one of the guys, carrying his bag and hiking around the golf course. But sometimes, life just doesn’t work out that way.

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