Sallisaw cheer coach to be inducted into OCCA Hall of Fame

There were fireworks and excitement abound this past weekend as we celebrated the 249th birthday of the United States of America.

However, the excitement for one local individual wasn’t solely for our nation’s birthday.

Sallisaw High School cheer coach Robbi Martin found out this past weekend that she will be one of six individuals to be among the Class of 2025 to be inducted into the Oklahoma Cheer Coaches Association Hall of Fame at the awards banquet at 6 p.m. July 30 at the Marriott Southern Hills in Tulsa.

“I was surprised,” said Martin, who will be starting her 14th season as SHS cheer coach after being a lay coach for two years before that. “I definitely feel humbled just by the nomination. It made me feel old. I believe this will be the fourth class who have been inducted. I don’t know how many ways I can say it’s an honor. It was shocking, and I still haven’t put anything on social media (as of Monday morning) yet because I’m still speechless. I don’t really know how to express the honor and the respect shown from my peers who nominated me, then chose me.”

Martin said she was nominated by soon-to-be fellow OCCA Hall of Famer, Washington’s Jeff LeForce, who was inducted in the Class of 2024.

“I said (to LeForce), ‘Are you sure? There are so many people I feel who should be ahead of me,” Martin said.

There most definitely are family ties for Martin and the OCCA Hall of Fame.

“My mother, Fran Bewley, was in the first class (in 2022),” she said. “She was a pioneer in the sport. She was a coach here (at Sallisaw High School) for 20-plus years. She helped start the organization (Oklahoma Cheer Coaches Association). I have been around it for a long time since I was a teenager. I don’t know if I will ever be the coach she was. My dad, Nelson Bewley, was my mom’s assistant.” However, there was one more individual instrumental in Martin becoming the cheer coach at Sallisaw, former Sallisaw Public Schools Superintendent Scott Farmer — who hired Martin as a teacher.

“He really talked me into getting my alternative teaching certification to teach and coach,” Martin said. “I thought, ‘I’ll do that for a few years.’ Here I am, 14 years later, still doing it. I love it. I felt called to the kids in this school. It’s my hometown. I just feel like there’s so much out there in the world for kids. There’s lots of them that cheerleading is how they’re exposed to things outside of town. I’ve loved it, and I still do.”

Martin is humbled and proud to be joining such an elite group of OCCA Hall of Famers.

“It’s such an honor because there are quite a few women and men that really mentored me,” she said. “I wouldn’t be anywhere without my mom, and she took over the (Sallisaw) cheerleaders in the early ’90s because she knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. I am who I really am because of the people who came before me — especially those who have been inducted into the (Oklahoma Cheer Coaches Association) Hall of Fame. In the first class, there were three (inductees), including my mom, who I had a personal relationship with. In the second class (in 2023) was, I call her my ‘cheer mentor,’ Michelle Martin. She used to come do some coaching here for us and some choreography when I was in school, and she coached me since I was a little kid. It is such a humbling honor to be included with those people.”