An Olympic track and field athlete and former U.S. record holder whose medals and trophies were stolen from a public storage facility in Texas is pleading with the thieves to return his valuable items.
Roy “Robot” Martin, 57, said the Legacy was stolen late last month after a series of break-ins had already occurred at a Dallas public warehouse. Fox 4 Dallas.
“They’ve had a few break-ins, this time they raided my warehouse and stole everything,” the superstar sprinter told the outlet.
“Someone stole all my clothes, all my memorabilia, all the pieces of history I had made for my grandchildren to enjoy.”
According to the media, the “Robot” warehouse was one of three that were robbed on the same day.
The Texas native stored his medals and honors in this room because he lacked space at home.
“I was living around the corner at the time and I kept my stuff here, and then where I moved I didn’t have enough space to store everything, so it gave me peace of mind knowing it was in a secure facility,” Martin said.
The former Olympian said she was devastated by losing all the possessions she had from her athletic career.
“It makes me sick to my stomach. It makes me sick to my stomach,” he told the outlet. “And it makes me think, why me? I mean, what’s the purpose of it?”
As police investigated who may have broken into his room and other rooms, Martin pleaded with the thieves to return his most prized possessions.
“Give it back, no questions asked, just give it back and all is forgiven,” he said.
“To me it’s irreplaceable. It’s my heritage, my history. If I wanted to tell my story, it was right there in that warehouse.”
Martin began to attract attention in the athletics world in the mid-1980s while attending Roosevelt High School in Dallas.
He was a three-time state champion and set the national record in the 200 meters at the track and field championships in Austin during his senior year of high school.
“My senior year of high school, I set the national record in the 200 meters with a time of 19.74 seconds, and that record stood for 33 years until Noah Lyles broke it in 2014,” Martin said.
“And my biggest accomplishment was being selected for the Olympic team my senior year of high school. I’m the only person in history who can say that.”
The track and field phenom narrowly missed out on a chance to run for the U.S. track and field team at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, finishing fourth in the 200 meters at the trials.
Martin is Track and Field News He was named High School Athlete of the Year in 1984 and 1985, becoming the first male athlete to win the award twice.
He then attended Southern Methodist University, where he helped lead the team to a championship at the 1986 NCAA Track and Field Championships, leading the Mustangs to a dramatic victory with a 43.5-second relay run.
“We’re just so excited,” coach Ralph White said after SMU’s win. The New York Times He described Martin as “the best pure sprinter I’ve ever seen” and “better” than two-time Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter and former Super Bowl champion and Dallas Cowboys receiver Bob Hayes.
Martin made her Olympic debut in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea, but finished sixth in the 200-meter semifinals.
He retired from sprinting after his first Olympic appearance.
He was inducted into the Texas Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Dallas Independent School District Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.
But the history he once cherished and “gained” is now lost.
“I won them all. Everything I’ve accomplished, I won. And that was my history. Now my history is gone,” he told Fox 4.
