Ultimate Rebound: Draft Bust LaRue Martin Lands NBA Gig

February 21 2011 Last updated at 04:41 PM ET

LOS ANGELES -- It's not just full circle LaRue Martin believes he's come.

"It's full blown,'' he said.

FanHouse last month profiled Martin, the No. 1 pick in 1972 who is regarded as the biggest draft bust in NBA history, but has been able to turn his life around by becoming a successful corporate manager at UPS in Chicago. While trying to get bad memories of basketball out of the system, Martin had talked in the article about not joining the NBA Retired Players Association because he was wary about "what people were going to think about me.''

Martin, a center who waived out of the NBA in 1976 after averaging just 5.3 points in four seasons, finally began to come to grips with his disappointing NBA tenure and started going to meetings during the early part of the past decade. Now, Martin has been named to the board of directors for the Retired Players Association.

"I wouldn't have done this before, but for the past seven or eight years I've been very active,'' said Martin, who began to feel a lot better when he was greeted warmly when he first began to attend meetings. "I put my name in two or three weeks ago and, before I knew it, Danny Schayes (interim executive director of the organization) gave me a call and asked me if I wanted it. And I said, 'Thank you very much.'''

Martin's three-year term began over the weekend at the All-Star Game in Los Angeles. Schayes said he was elected to be one of the 12 board members by the other members

"I remember the first couple of times I met him, I sensed kind of a wall, an underlying kind of an anger for lack of a better word,'' Schayes said of his dealings with Martin when he first began to come to meetings. "Not standoffish, but just ... kind of wondering how he would be received or whatever. He has been received very well. ... We love his contributions.''

Schayes likes what Martin can provide to other retired players due to being in the corporate world. As a board member, Martin wants to give more guidance about careers after the NBA.

"I would love to be able to give back,'' said Martin, community services manager of UPS' Illinois district. "It doesn't matter at all (how successful a player was in the NBA). There is life after basketball.''

Martin certainly has shown that in the 25 years he has been at UPS.

Source: http://nba.fanhouse.com/2011/02/21/ultimate-rebound-draft-bust-larue-martin-lands-nba-gig/

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