WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — The eighth annual Nexstar Sports Awards and Hall of Fame banquet kicked off at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 9, 2026, inside D.L. Ligon Coliseum on the campus of Midwestern State University.

Originally named the Inspirational Story of the Year Award, the Noel Johnson Courage Award was renamed in 2021 in honor of its namesake, former Midwestern State Women’s Basketball Coach Noel Johnson, who passed away in 2020 after a 14-month battle with ovarian cancer.

RECIPIENT — Karon Martinson (Woodson High School)

Billy Graham once said, “A coach will impact more young people in a year than the average person does in a lifetime.”

And after 30 years as an educator and coach, Karon Martinson has impacted thousands, with that number continuing to grow as athletes share the lessons and values she has instilled in them.

The same way that her coaches impacted her as a teenager in Albany, Texas.

“I had great coaches in high school and I knew early that I would love to pursue that,” said Martinson.

A multi-sport talent in high school, Martinson played tennis collegiately at Hardin-Simmons, after which her coaching career began at Meadow ISD. Followed by stops in Iraan, Rankin, Sierra Blanco, Grand Falls, Munday, Throckmorton (twice) and finally in Woodson.

“You get to coach it all (at small schools), so you don’t have favorites,” said Martinson. “You’re a seasonal coach and you like it all. I’m highly competitive, so I jumped in with both feet on everything I did.”

But what drives someone for 30 years to go from volleyball season to basketball season, to tennis and track over and over and over again?

“I just had a thrill of taking kids past the point of where they felt like they could go,” said Martinson. “I felt like that was a calling. Convincing that kid that they can do more than they think they’re capable of doing. I love seeing the kids succeed.”

She’s mentored athletes through the thrill of victory and the pain of failure, drawing on lessons and experiences accumulated over three decades.

But five years ago, she had to start leaning on doctors’ wisdom after noticing shaking in her right hand.

“When I first came to Woodson five years ago, I noticed like right now when I get excited I’m going to tremor more,” said Martinson. “So in a ballgame, getting worked up, you know, tense moments and stuff, I noticed that I would shake a little bit and only my right side, my right hand is the only tremors you’ll see.”

First, doctors tried medication but saw minimal success and provided no diagnosis.  

“For two years we’ve treated this as essential tremors; we didn’t realize it was Parkinson’s,” she said. “It’s a progressive disease that affects people differently. The only thing that I’ve noticed is a tremor. I’m tired. Stress is not good. So my job of being a coach is not great on this.”

And, while the tremors may have been evident to others, she has battled privately.  

“When I got the phone call from you, you were the first person I told. You’re the first person I openly said that in public,” Martinson said. “The reason I was not wanting it to be out is because I say I’m an open book and you have to be an open book to kids to trust you and talk to you and to talk freely about things that might be bothering them. If they knew I had Parkinson’s two or three years ago, I’d have been treated differently.”

She didn’t want sympathy. It was business as usual. Parents chewing her out, just like they had in years past. Kids second-guessing her decisions.  She simply wanted to experience all that comes with coaching as she had before.

Martinson realizes others have suspicions, but she has chosen not to address her battle.  

Until now.  

“They see the shaking. They’re probably talking about it in the locker room. But I didn’t want it to change my relationship with them,” Martinson said about her athletes. “We pray a lot around here. We’re a praying school. I’ll only hold a couple of people’s hands. I don’t want them to feel uncomfortable. I want them to feel at ease with me.”

Student athletes have trusted her for decades.

This lifelong coach is making a career of teaching others to overcome obstacles they didn’t believe they could overcome.

Now, as her career comes to an end, it’s Karon’s turn to heed her own advice.

Parkinson’s is not the final whistle, just another opponent to battle in the game of life. 

YOUR LOCAL SPORTS AUTHORITY

Tobin McDuff

Sports Director

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