I met Marty Hick on July 10, 2007, at a Uni Watch meet-up event in St. Louis. I loved that he was wearing a St. Louis football Cardinals necktie, and I really loved that he brought along a notebook featuring tons of his amazing uniform drawings. He also had an infectious energy about him that was very, very likable. Almost all Uni Watch readers are special, but I could tell right away that Marty was extra-special.
I think it’s no exaggeration to say that in the nearly 19 years since then, Marty has probably been Uni Watch’s most consistently enthusiastic and engaged reader. I’ve played croquet with him and his crew (Marty has special socks for that sport) and I’ve also showcased his uni-themed Christmas tree, his uni-themed cakes, his drawings of basketball, soccer, and BMX uniforms, and a lot more. It seemed like he was always busy with some sort of uni-related DIY project, which he was always excited to share with me.
Along the way, we became good friends. I stayed at his house during one of my ESPN trips to St. Looie, and he and his family came to my birthday party one year when the date coincided with a trip they were taking to NYC. On top of all our shared uni enthusiasm, we’ve also bonded over a love of old-school punk/indie music. In short, Marty is my kind of people.
While all of these things help to make Marty a great guy and a great friend, that’s not the reason I referred to him as “the Great Marty Hick” in the headline to this post. If you look again at the photo at the top of this page, you’ll see Marty standing in front of a “Green Trails Elementary” backdrop. That’s because he’s spent the past 25 years as a public school teacher. I can’t think of a more important job, or a better person to have that job. If I had kids, Marty is exactly who I’d want to be teaching them — not just because we have similar tastes in uniforms and music, but because he has strong core values, an unerring moral compass, and so much patience, kindness, compassion, and warmth.
But you don’t have to take my word for it. Marty was recently named his school’s Teacher of the Year. If you look at the dozens of comments on that post, you’ll see that the honor was clearly well-deserved.
Marty is fast approaching another well-earned benchmark: retirement. Next Friday, May 22nd, will be his last day. I couldn’t be happier for him, or prouder to be his friend.
Marty’s co-workers know how special he is. In fact, this post came about at the suggestion of his colleague and fellow teacher Stephanie Horner, who recently got in touch with Uni Watch. “Marty is absolutely obsessed with your content and talks about your website all the time,” she told me. “I know he’d love it if you wrote something to acknowledge him, even if he’s probably too humble to believe he deserves it.”
Happy to oblige. Big congrats on everything you’ve achieved, Marty, and even bigger thanks for the important work you do as a teacher. I’m excited to see what you do with the next chapter of your life.
Big hugs, big love,
Paul