PAUL BEAUDRY, For The Birmingham News
For the better part of the past 40 years, Willie Ray and Joseph Martin have been friends.
They went to the same high school in Birmingham, they went to the same college in Mississippi and they coached together on many levels back in Birmingham.
That's why it's more than appropriate that they were inducted into the Alcorn State University Hall of Fame together.
Ray and Martin were inducted into Alcorn's Athletic Hall of Fame last month as much for their achievements in college - Ray for football and Martin for basketball - as for their life after it.
"We've been friends forever," said Martin, now the principal at Parker High School and a four-year letter winner in basketball at the Mississippi SWAC school in the early 1970s. "We coach at the U.S. Youth Games together in track. In fact, he and his brother James recruited me to play basketball at Alcorn State."
Ray, a standout at Western-Olin in the mid-1960s, played football at Alcorn State for four seasons, taking a medical redshirt season for knee surgery.
"I was recruited as a fullback and to run track," said Ray, a former Jackson-Olin coach who was an assistant principal at Ensley. He retired the same year the school closed. "I was converted to running back and just got too big to run track. But I was also one of the premier punters in the city."
Ray wound up signing a free-agent contract with the Detroit Lions, but bad knees forced him into education. He was the head track coach and assistant football coach at Parker from 1971-72 and moved over to Jackson-Olin, where he coached until becoming an assistant principal at Ensley in 1990.
One of his biggest accomplishments came through one of his athletes. He coached Vonetta Flowers in track at J-O. She went on to win an Olympic gold medal in bobsled in the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Martin, a 6-foot-7 tweener at big guard or small forward, came out of Western-Olin to average about 19 points a game at Alcorn. He averaged 28 as a sophomore - starting all four years for the Braves. Upon returning to Birmingham, he coached girls basketball at Jackson-Olin - starting the program with the help of head football coach Robert Dickerson - for two seasons.
"When I was in high school, I played it all - I was a wide receiver in football and a first baseman in baseball and got drafted by the Baltimore Orioles," Martin said.
He moved to Glenn High School from 1975-81 as boys basketball coach (with a player named Bobby Humphrey) and followed that as an assistant basketball and football coach at Parker. He left coaching when he got into administration, and has served as principal of Huffman High School and Banks Middle School.
"Alcorn was a nice, friendly place," Martin said. "That's why I chose to go there. And a big part of that was Willie Ray. He was ahead of me in school and kept telling me how wonderful it was."
For the better part of the past 40 years, Willie Ray and Joseph Martin have been friends.
They went to the same high school in Birmingham, they went to the same college in Mississippi and they coached together on many levels back in Birmingham.
That's why it's more than appropriate that they were inducted into the Alcorn State University Hall of Fame together.
Ray and Martin were inducted into Alcorn's Athletic Hall of Fame last month as much for their achievements in college - Ray for football and Martin for basketball - as for their life after it.
"We've been friends forever," said Martin, now the principal at Parker High School and a four-year letter winner in basketball at the Mississippi SWAC school in the early 1970s. "We coach at the U.S. Youth Games together in track. In fact, he and his brother James recruited me to play basketball at Alcorn State."
Ray, a standout at Western-Olin in the mid-1960s, played football at Alcorn State for four seasons, taking a medical redshirt season for knee surgery.
"I was recruited as a fullback and to run track," said Ray, a former Jackson-Olin coach who was an assistant principal at Ensley. He retired the same year the school closed. "I was converted to running back and just got too big to run track. But I was also one of the premier punters in the city."
Ray wound up signing a free-agent contract with the Detroit Lions, but bad knees forced him into education. He was the head track coach and assistant football coach at Parker from 1971-72 and moved over to Jackson-Olin, where he coached until becoming an assistant principal at Ensley in 1990.
One of his biggest accomplishments came through one of his athletes. He coached Vonetta Flowers in track at J-O. She went on to win an Olympic gold medal in bobsled in the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Martin, a 6-foot-7 tweener at big guard or small forward, came out of Western-Olin to average about 19 points a game at Alcorn. He averaged 28 as a sophomore - starting all four years for the Braves. Upon returning to Birmingham, he coached girls basketball at Jackson-Olin - starting the program with the help of head football coach Robert Dickerson - for two seasons.
"When I was in high school, I played it all - I was a wide receiver in football and a first baseman in baseball and got drafted by the Baltimore Orioles," Martin said.
He moved to Glenn High School from 1975-81 as boys basketball coach (with a player named Bobby Humphrey) and followed that as an assistant basketball and football coach at Parker. He left coaching when he got into administration, and has served as principal of Huffman High School and Banks Middle School.
"Alcorn was a nice, friendly place," Martin said. "That's why I chose to go there. And a big part of that was Willie Ray. He was ahead of me in school and kept telling me how wonderful it was."
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