Passing the Baton
Richard Martin ’75, ’76 spoke to the Purple Circle, the official support organization for University of Central Arkansas Athletics, in January. When he arrived, some of the members jokingly chanted, “Here comes the legend. Here comes the legend,” he said.
“I’ve been on this campus since 1971, and I’ve never left this campus. This is the only job I really ever had, so I guess you could say that’s a legend,” said Martin, UCA’s head track and cross-country coach.
As an accomplished athlete in several sports, the Lufkin, Texas, native was heavily recruited by several universities, but he chose State College of Arkansas, now UCA, because he could join the football and track teams.
Martin continued his run as a standout athlete at UCA, earning both regional and national honors throughout his career. In his senior year, he made All-American in Track and Field with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and set several school records.
When asked, multiple times, just how fast he ran, he would chuckle and reply simply, “I was pretty fast.”
After earning his Bachelor of Science in Education, Martin began working toward a Master of Science in Education while also serving as an assistant coach in football and track. After graduating, he entertained the idea of teaching and coaching high school athletics but did not find the right opportunity. His former track coach, Bill Stephens ’55, offered him a chance to continue coaching both football and track full time. Martin accepted, becoming UCA’s first African American coach.
At the time he was hired, President Jefferson Farris Jr. ’50 met with Martin to discuss his new role. Farris had been one of Martin’s instructors as an undergraduate student. Martin explained that Farris wanted to reassure him of the reason for his hire.
“He said some people were going to say that I got the job because I was black, but he told me to not listen to that,” Martin said. “He told me he watched me as a student-athlete, and he wanted me to know he wasn’t hiring me because I was black. He was hiring me because he knew I could do the job.”
Martin retold that story in 2002 when he and Farris were both inducted into the UCA Sports Hall of Fame.
“I still get emotional when I talk about [Farris],” Martin said.
He was also inducted into the Dunbar High School Hall of Honor in 2019 in his hometown of Lufkin and the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2007.
During his UCA coaching career, Martin and the track and field teams have racked up impressive statistics with Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championships in 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992, as well as a Gulf South Conference championship in 2004 and many other wins.
The walls, bookshelves, desk and even the tops of his file cabinets in his Prince Center office hold photographs of former student-athletes and colleagues, certificates of achievements and mementos given to him, as well as his two UCA degrees and family portraits.
In nearly every photograph, he sports his signature color and style: purple with gold jewelry.
The purple dates back to his days as a student. In Texas, he attended Dunbar High and Lufkin High schools, whose colors were purple and gold, and purple and white, respectively. At UCA, the colors are purple and gray. “So, that’s why I just bleed purple,” he said.
He said he has always loved gold, receiving his last “whooping” from his mother for spending an entire summer job paycheck on the gold tooth he still wears today. After completing college and beginning to work professionally, he began to purchase gold necklaces each year.
How many does he own now? He has no idea.
“I would look like Mr. T if I wore them all at the same time. I really would,” Martin said.
After 44 years of service to UCA, Martin has decided to retire this year. He cannot recall how many outstanding student-athletes he has coached, but he does treasure the memories.
“I will remember that I coached a lot of great athletes, men and women, in both football, track and cross-country,” Martin said in announcing his retirement. “And that I have touched their lives in a way that is helping them out in today’s world.”