As “who knew?” moments go, this is a whopper: Who knew one of Nashua’s most celebrated athletes of the early Harvey-Marandos-Tate era became perhaps the most decorated, and most beloved, math teacher in neighboring Massachusetts ­ for something like 60 years?

If you recognize the name Martin “Marty” Badoian you’ve been around for awhile, but even if your familiarity with Nashua High School athletics doesn’t go back to the days Badoian made magic on the basketball court, streaked around the baseball diamond and flew down the lanes in track, you probably heard his name mentioned a few times over the years.

I was at once fascinated and a little sad when old friend George Tebbetts ­ talk about a walking encyclopedia of all things NHS athletics ­ texted me last week suggesting I check out a Boston Globe story about “a former NHS basketball great … one of Tony’s greatest players in the 40’s.”

The sad part was that the story was written following Badoian’s passing several weeks earlier; though a very

ell-written (as always) tribute by Globe veteran Bryan Marquard, it also meant I’d never get to meet this guy I’d read and heard so much about.

But the sadness was mitigated some when I read that Badoian was in his 90th year when he died, and it was obvious just about every one of those years was filled with accomplishment.

Until I read the story, then searched through old Telegraph articles about Badoian, what I knew about him was limited to his success on the court, the diamond and the track. But then it made sense: Badoian succeeded in sports because he probably approached it the way he approached everything in life: With determination, an unflinching can-do attitude and deep, lifelong desire to leave people, mainly his 50-plus years worth of students, smarter and better prepared than when he first met them.

It was pancreatic cancer, according to Marquard’s story, that claimed the life of the energetic and seemingly invincible man whose mother, Rose (Markarian) Badoian, was the first Armenian woman to graduate from Nashua High.

Born in Haverhill, Mass., in August 1928, Marty Badoian was the third of four children and the only boy. They were still quite young when their father left, and soon after, Rose Badoian moved her four children to an apartment on Central Street in Nashua ­ her home town.

Marty Badoian was one of those folks who deserve a more detailed, longer than average obituary when their time came. His family apparently agreed, penning an obituary for the ages that even pinpointed the time of his death ­ 6:25 a.m., Oct. 27.

Naturally, the reader learns a lot about the athlete, coach, teacher and volunteer from such a comprehensive, detailed obit. But one also gains a lot of insight into the woman who surely played a significant role in shaping from boyhood the man who would leave an indelible mark on a wide swath of society.

Rose Badoian certainly had her work cut out for her: A single mom raising four young children in the depths of the Great Depression, she worked “odd jobs” to feed and clothe her family, seeing to it that no matter what, their needs would be met.

My favorite is a reference to her devotion to her son’s athletic pursuits: “Rose was known to position herself by the basket and be a ‘one woman cheering section'” for her son and his NHS basketball teammates.

In the fall of 1945, shortly after Marty Badoian began his senior year at what folks were still calling “the new high school” on Elm Street, it was announced that a new basketball coach would be coming on board to replace longtime mentor Johnny Clark, who was headed to Milford.

The new guy ­ Tony Marandos ­ was far from a stranger, having come to Nashua several years earlier to coach football with his longtime friend and Holy Cross teammate Buzz Harvey.

Legend has it that Harvey, head football and baseball coach and athletic director who pretty much ran the place, told Marandos one day he wanted him to coach basketball.

Marandos, a football guy who knew little if anything about coaching hoop, told Harvey as much. But Harvey persisted, so Marandos, according to the story, went out and bought books on the subject and began studying.

He must have been as good a student as he was a teacher and coach: With Badoian, the youngest Kissell brother and a couple other veterans on the team, Marandos guided them to Nashua High’s first state basketball championship.

Badoian was the tourney MVP, and was named to the all-tournament team as well as the all-New England team.

After a two-year stint in the Army, Badoian enrolled at Brown University, where he majored in math and captained the basketball team. His family recalls in the obituary his experience of “getting schooled” trying to defend against a certain Holy Cross guard named Bob Cousy.

At 26, Badoian becomes a math teacher at a Milford, Mass. prep school, and five years later launches his remarkable 59-year run at Canton, Mass. High School ­ “his beloved home of the Bulldogs,” his family wrote.

The Nashua High School Athletic Hall of Fame inducted Badoian in 1992, adding yet another accolade to an already lengthy list.

As somone who breaks out in a cold sweat at the mere mention of an algebraic equasion, and sometimes lies awake at night worrying that if I was ever convicted of a crime I’d be sentenced to 3 1/2 to 7 years of geometry lessons, I’d bet even I would have been able to conquer those subjects, had I been lucky enough to have Marty Badoian as my teacher.

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears Sundays in The Telegraph. He can be reached at 594-1256, dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com or@Telegraph_DeanS.