The following is the third in an 11-part series featuring members of the 2019 class of the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame.

The sport of football has taken Willie Carl Martin to places all around the world. However, the former college and pro standout still calls Alexander City home.

Born and raised in Alexander City, Martin graduated from Laurel High School in 1969, just as integration was bringing about the merger of Alabama’s white and black high school athletic associations. He was one of three black players chosen for the 1969 North-South All-Star game, the first minorities to receive that honor. He would later return Alexander City as head coach and led Benjamin Russell High School to its only state football title.

Martin will be enshrined as a member of the Class of 2019 into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame March 18 in Montgomery. The AHSAA and AHSADCA founded the Hall of Fame in 1991.

Martin’s first move came after high school, leaving Alexander City for Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where he was a four-year letterman as an offensive lineman at Northeastern Oklahoma State. He had been offered a scholarship by Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant at Alabama but instead, selected NESU, where he earned All-American and All-Oklahoma Collegiate Conference first team honors his senior year. Drafted by the Houston Oilers of the NFL after his senior year, Martin chose instead to play in the Canadian Football League. His 10-year career included stops in Edmonton and Winnipeg. He was an All-Pro selection eight times and participated in six CFL championship Grey Cup games (the CFL’s equivalent of the Super Bowl), playing on two championship teams.

In 1983, after his professional career ended, he returned to his hometown, accepting a position as football, wrestling and track coach at Alexander City Middle School. Two years later, he moved over to Benjamin Russell High School as an assistant football coach, serving 15 years as defensive coordinator. Over those years, his defenses gave up an average of only 12.32 points per game. In 2001, he took over as head coach, compiling a 51-24 record and a 68 percent winning percentage. His team won the state crown in 2001, his first season as head coach.

Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban hired Martin as director of player development (academics, strength and conditioning) in 2007.

“Coach Martin has been a successful high school coach in Alabama for well over 20 years and has a tremendous depth of knowledge and experience to relate to our student-athletes,” Saban said. “[He] will help our program continue to develop relationships in the state of Alabama.”

Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban.
(Kent Gidley / UA Athletics)

Martin remained in that position until he retired in 2015. That spring, the Lake Martin Bama Club and Central Alabama Community College’s Betty Carol Graham Technology Center hosted Willie Carl Martin Day.

“I have known Carl for 50 years and had the opportunity to work with him for over 20 years. Throughout his impressive career, Coach Martin has always had the children’s best interest at heart. He developed relationships with young people who so often needed a positive role model in their lives, said retired Coach Dwight Buzbee.

“He always taught his athletes and students to strive for excellence, to be respectful of others, not to embarrass themselves, team or community, and to be humble winners. He didn’t just teach these traits, but he also displayed them in his actions.”

During his tenure at Benjamin Russell, Martin worked with current AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese, who was the Wildcats head football coach from 1985-96. Savarese has nothing but praise for his friend and former assistant coach.

“Throughout my career in high school athletics, I have been privileged to work with some of the finest men and women in the field. This group includes coaches, officials, administrators and AHSAA contributors who all have had one common trait – the desire to excel and to make a difference in the lives of those they serve. The epitome of those individuals is Willie Carl Martin, a standout high school, collegiate and CFL football player, a state champion high school coach and national champion collegiate assistant coach.”

Willie Carl Martin is being inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame. (AHSAA)

Savarese said Martin’s contributions at every stop were immeasurable.

“Although he currently resides in Tuscaloosa, he still considers Alex city ‘home’. He hasn’t forgotten where his career started, nor the people who influenced him along the way,” Savarese said

“He is a great ambassador for the AHSAA and the entire Alabama high school sports community. Willie Carl is a true professional, and I am honored to have worked with him but even more blessed to have him as a very close friend.”

Martin is a member of Great Bethel Baptist Church, Red Elephant Club and the American Red Cross. He helped organize works for the Soup Bowl, which feeds the hungry. He has been a speaker at numerous high schools. He returned to Alexander City in 2017 to speak at the Bridge Builders Youth Football Camp.

A version of this story originally appeared on the Alabama High School Athletic Association website.