{"id":162347,"date":"2015-12-30T14:00:14","date_gmt":"2015-12-30T21:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=162347"},"modified":"2016-01-02T16:57:41","modified_gmt":"2016-01-02T23:57:41","slug":"ncaa-swimming-champion-discovering-atlantis-quest-martin-pepper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-swimming-champion-discovering-atlantis-quest-martin-pepper\/","title":{"rendered":"Swimming: A Means to A Beginning for History Channel’s Dr. Martin Pepper"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Grace Hoffmann, Swimming World College Intern<\/em><\/p>\n

As I called to interview a particular University of Arizona alum and 1996 NCAA champion, I expected to hear about swimming and his glory days. To my surprise, the only talk of swimming I had with Dr. Martin Pepper,<\/strong> was how swimming was \u201cjust a small part\u201d of his life.<\/p>\n

Pepper is a man of many talents. He’s an adventurer. He’s an entrepreneur. He’s a researcher. He’s an explorer. He pursues his interests in piloting and discovery.<\/p>\n

Martin’s older brother, Seth Pepper,<\/strong> was a very accomplished swimmer at the University of Arizona– he won the 100 butterfly at 1993 NCAAs. Seth also qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 100 butterfly and finished third at trials. With the great accomplishments of his older brother to set the standard high, younger brother Martin did not fail to perform in his years as an Arizona Wildcat. Martin won the 100 butterfly with a time of 46.74 at the 1996 NCAA Championships; a great accomplishment and huge improvement from finishing 8th the year before. Both Pepper\u00a0brothers are members of the University of Arizona’s Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

Although he considers swimming just a small part of the big picture, he spoke highly of the family aspect of his team. He accredits swimming to learning visualization and being able to use it to further his career. He also explained to me how swimming meant traveling, and that<\/em> was what he really enjoyed.<\/p>\n

\"Martin

Photo Courtesy: Martin Pepper<\/p><\/div>\n

Discoveries Beyond the Pool<\/h2>\n

The post-swimming life for Pepper has matched the success he had in college. Pepper went on to receive another degree in ecology and evolutionary biology and earned his master’s degree in wildlife and vegetation management. In 2009, he went back to the University of Arizona to receive his Ph.D in structural geology and geochronology. Pepper collected 270 river sand samples for his doctorate and on the seven-month trip he traveled over 30,000 miles.<\/p>\n

With the help of his brother, Pepper made a goofy “personal reel” video of himself and it sparked interest. His charismatic and knowledgable approach landed him his first gig on the Discovery Science Channel in 2013.<\/p>\n