THE ORIGINS OF 11

Mike Martin first arrived in Tallahassee as a baseball player. Martin transferred from Wingate Community College in his native North Carolina to FSU, joining the team in 1965. He played center fielder over the next two seasons, hitting an impressive .364 over 52 games in his senior campaign. Interestingly, Martin wore No. 15 in his first season before claiming No. 11 in 1966. When Martin returned to the team as an assistant coach in 1975, there were only a few jerseys left in his size. “I weighed 165 pounds back then,” he said. “It was pretty simple: the smaller the number, the smaller the jersey. Everything up to No. 11 was taken so I just took that one.” With that decision, Martin’s legacy and new nickname were born.