Ole Miss alum completes bucket list item by visiting The Pavilion

Wiley Martin arrived at The Pavilion via ambulance Friday afternoon. He was shown the locker rooms before being wheeled out onto the floor and up to The Pavilion Club, where former coaches and professors, friends and Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter made remarks and reminisced with him. Martin was the manager for the basketball team and worked with the football team until he graduated from Ole Miss in the ‘80s. He has had cerebral palsy all his life and now has cancer. He said seeing The Pavilion was on his bucket list.

“Wiley wanted to be treated like everyone else. He was wise, intelligent, sensitive and caring. Everyone here has been blessed, because we know him,” James Green (Right), basketball player while Martin was manager, said. Former men’s basketball coach Bob Weltlich, who couldn’t make it for Martin’s visit is on the phone in Green’s hand. “What you did for me helped me endure the tough times in my life, coach,” Martin said to Weltlich. “You made a man out of me. I think of you as a father. I’m so grateful for what you and coach Brewer did for me. I love you.” Photo by Marlee Crawford

Associate Director of Alumni Affairs Clay Cavett (Right) and Leslie Westbrook, an adjunct professor at the Meek School (Middle), show Wiley Martin around The Pavilion court during his visit Friday. “You always do what’s right even when it’s hard,” Westbrook said later when giving remarks about Martin to friends and family gathered in The Pavilion Club. Photo by Marlee Crawford

Martin is surrounded by friends and family in The Pavilion Club on Friday to share remarks and memories. Photo by Marlee Crawford

After Chancellor Vitter spoke about Martin during his visit to The Pavilion, Martin hugged him. Photo by Marlee Crawford

Former football coach Warner Alford talks to Wiley Martin during his visit. Photo by Marlee Crawford

Jamie Holder, former football player when Wiley Martin was at Ole Miss, reminisces with Martin during his visit to The Pavilion on Friday. “By the time we got through talking, I remembered I didn’t have any problems,” Holder said. Photo by Marlee Crawford

Dean of Journalism Will Norton (Right) and Gloria Kellum (Middle) talk to Martin during his visit to the Pavilion Friday. Norton, Martin’s former professor, wrote a story titled “The Indomitable Wiley Martin” for the most recent edition of the Meek School Magazine. Kellum was Martin’s speech pathologist. Photo by Marlee Crawford

Former football coach Billy Brewer presents the The Wiley Ray Martin Scholarship created to honor him and his legacy and contributions to the university during Martin’s visit to The Pavilion on Friday. Photo by Marlee Crawford

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