A pair of Texas A&M University-Commerce alumni – Dr. Bev Humphrey and Harvey Martin – were inducted into the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas Saturday.
Humphrey, who earlier this year received the Bobby Fox Outstanding Coach Award for the second-straight year, is currently the track and field coach and athletic director at Lancaster Independent School District. Last year, Humphrey led her team to an unprecedented seventh-straight 4A State Championship. The Tigers hold 19 state records for consecutive relays won with nine in the 4×400, six in the 4×100 and four in the 4×200. She was named the 2007 Dallas Morning News Track and Field Coach of the Year, an honoree for the Dallas-Prairie View Alumni Association Annual Athletic Scholarship Gala, the Prairie View Interscholastic League Coaches Association High School Coach of the Year and inducted into the class of 2007 Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame. Lancaster ISD has renamed Tiger stadium to Beverly Day Humphrey-Tiger Stadium in honor of the accomplished coach. It is the first high school where football is played in Texas to be named in honor of a woman.
Martin was a third-round selection of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1973 NFL Draft after a standout career at A&M-Commerce. A two-time first team all-Lone Star Conference and all-Texas selection in 1971 and 1972. He was a four-time Pro Bowl selection, a co-MVP of Super Bowl XII and an All-Pro honoree in 1977. Martin still holds Cowboys records for sacks by a rookie, season and in a career. He retired from football in 1984. In 1987, he was inducted into the A&M-Commerce Athletic Hall of Fame and last year, he was named to the Lone Star Conference 75th Anniversary All-Football Team.
The Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame is a permanent exhibit at The African-American Museum in Dallas, Texas. The African- American Museum is the only museum in the Southwestern United States devoted to the preservation and display of African American artistic, cultural and historical materials. The Museum also has one of the largest African American folk art collections in the United States.