Darnell (Martinez) an inductee into ISU Hall of Fame

FORT MADISON - Erica (Martinez) Darnell thought it was just going to be a simple podcast interview.

The Fort Madison native was going to be on CyCast, a podcast at Iowa State University, but didn’t expect to be joined by ISU athletics director Jamie Pollard, who had some news for her — she was going into the university’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

“I was a little shocked to see he was on there,” Darnell said. “And I was like, OK, what's going on. But when he told me, I was just in a little bit of shock and just very excited and honored to have been selected to be a part of a select group of athletes at Iowa State.”

Darnell is one of six inductees into this year’s Hall class, joining former athletics director Gene Smith, wrestler Chris Bono, gymnast Erin Dethloff, football player A.J. Klein, and gymnast Richard Larsen. The induction ceremony will be October 24 at the Sukup End Zone Club at Iowa State’s Jack Trice Stadium, and the inductees will be honored at Iowa State’s football game against BYU the next day.

Darnell’s list of accomplishments at Iowa State are long, but what meant most to her were the relationships she made playing there.

“When you go to Iowa State, or you go anywhere to go play, you go because you're going to play a sport,” she said. “But what you don't realize when you get there is that you meet people that are in your life forever. You know the few girls or the couple girls that were in my (class). I mean, we're all still very close. And then you know, among all the different (classes), regardless if we played one year together, or four years together, those friendships and those bonds go well past the playing days. Some of them were in my wedding. I was in their weddings. Whether we see each other once a year, once a month, it's like no time has changed. As much as I enjoyed playing the game, one of the other big things you kind of take from that experience is just your friendships. And I call them my forever sisters, because, you know, I don't have sisters, but if I did, god, I would want every one of them to be one of them. They're just amazing people and friendships to have for your lifetime.”

Darnell played from 2000-03, becoming one of four All-Americans in the program’s history. She was a third-team All-American in 2002, a two-time NCAA all-region pick in 2001 and 2002, and from 2001-03 was a first-team All-Big 12 selection. She led the team in 10 hitting or pitching categories in 2002, when she led the Big 12 in hitting (.383) and strikeouts thrown (175). She ranks in the program’s career top 10 in batting average (.311) and strikeouts thrown (391), and ended her career with the program’s single-season records in home runs (27), runs batted in (88) and walks (71).

“I remember watching the College World Series when I was like nine or 10 years old,” she said. “And I told my parents, ‘I want to do that.’ So for from that time on, I mean, it's as crazy as it sounds, I dedicated everything to practicing and to getting better at softball.”

There is a full circle to Darnell’s life. She moved back to Fort Madison after living with her husband Brent in Arizona and California.

“About seven years ago, we made the decision to move back to Fort Madison, just to have family support,” said Darnell, a global account manager with FedEx. “We had two young girls we were raising and we were working opposite times, just so that we could keep the girls with us and not have to do day-care and have strangers helping us with our kids. And I think just having that family support was the biggest thing that brought us back here.”

Darnell played for her father, Eric Martinez, who was head coach of Fort Madison High School’s softball team. This season, she will be an assistant coach with the Bloodhounds.

“I'm excited to see what we can do with the program,” said Darnell, who coaches with the Iowa United travel teams. “I know one of the things that I really wanted to do is, you know, not just help the existing team, but how do we build a program for many years? And I think that starts with some of the younger girls. So we've started having some open gyms where we're having girls as young as fifth grade coming in, and that's where it starts. You've got to get them engaged, get them and keep them interested. And so I'm excited to see kind of how this progresses and how it grows, but I'm excited to be back and in back with Fort Madison again.”

The community, she said, means a lot to her.

“It's a good, small community, which is good,” she said. “It kind of keeps you on the straight and narrow, making sure you're doing the things you’ve got to do, and everybody knows who you are, so make sure that you're staying on the right path for sure. I think being in Fort Madison was, and is, great. Just having a good sense of community and having and having tons of family support around was obviously important.”