# Slater Martin: Houston's Five-Time NBA Champion Guard > Slater Martin was born October 22, 1925, in Elmina, Texas, and grew up in Houston. He starred at the University of Texas and won five NBA championships. **By:** John McGillie **Published:** October 22, 2026 **Tags:** Basketball, Houston, Minneapolis Lakers, Naismith Hall Of Fame, Slater Martin, Texas Longhorns --- A 5-foot-10 point guard once told Bob Cousy that if he went behind his back again, he'd break the man's nose. The guard was Slater Martin, born on October 22, 1925, in Elmina, a small community in Walker County, and he went on to win five NBA championships. That's why Texas cares. Martin grew up in Houston, starred at Jefferson Davis High School and the University of Texas, and became one of the best defensive guards of the 1950s. He's also in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. ## From Elmina to Houston Martin was born in Elmina, Texas, and grew up in Houston. He went to Jefferson Davis High School, which is now Northside High School, and led it to state basketball titles in 1942 and 1943. Then the war came, and basketball waited. Martin played at Texas in 1943-44, left to serve in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific, and came back to the Longhorns in 1946. He stayed through 1949. He made the most of those seasons. Texas went 63-14 in his three seasons there, and the 1946-47 team finished third at the NCAA Tournament. On February 26, 1949, he scored 49 points in an 81-60 win over TCU. He also broke Texas's all-time scoring mark. The university retired his No. 15 jersey in 2009. ## A short guard on the other team's best guard The Minneapolis Lakers took him in the 1949 draft, and he fit right in. Minneapolis won NBA titles in 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954. Martin played in the All-Star Game every year from 1953 to 1959, and he made the All-NBA Second Team five times, from 1955 through 1959. His specialty was defense. Listed at 5 feet 10 inches and 170 pounds, he drew the job of shutting down the other team's best guard. Martin once described the assignment this way: "All they expected of me was to hold Bob Davies or Bobby Wanzer or Bill Sharman or Bob Cousy to 12 points." Cousy, for his part, said, "Slater was the only one I used to call for help on." Martin remembered it as a simple warning: if Cousy went behind his back again, he'd break his nose. I'd argue that's the best thing about him. He wasn't the biggest or the flashiest. He just refused to let you have the easy night. Martin later moved on to the New York Knicks and the St. Louis Hawks. In 1958 the Hawks won the title, his fifth. Over his career he played 745 NBA games, scoring 7,337 points and handing out 3,160 assists. ## After the playing days Martin coached the Houston Mavericks of the American Basketball Association in 1967-68 and part of 1968-69, and he took that first team to the 1968 ABA playoffs. The honors came steadily. The University of Texas put him in its Hall of Honor in 1962, and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame followed in 1964. In 1982 he went into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first Longhorn to get that call. He died in Houston on October 18, 2012, at age 86. That was four days before his 87th birthday. So here's a question for the comments. Who is the best defensive guard Texas has ever sent to the pros, and does anyone in today's game guard people the way a 5-foot-10 Houston kid did in the 1950s? Photo: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons --- **About the author:** John McGillie is a pen name, used for safety after threats of violence. I grew up in Wishek, North Dakota, and moved to Texas 20 years ago. I write about the history, food and back roads I keep finding along the way. --- _Read the full article at [everybittexas.com/posts/slater-martin-five-time-nba-champion](https://everybittexas.com/posts/slater-martin-five-time-nba-champion)_ [← All Posts](https://everybittexas.com/posts/index.md)