American football player and coach (born 1965)
American football player
Kelvin Brian Martin
(born May 14, 1965) is an American former professional
football
player who was a
wide receiver
in the
National Football League
(NFL). He was selected by the
Dallas Cowboys
in the fourth round of the
1987 NFL Draft
. He won
Super Bowl XXVII
with the Cowboys against the
Buffalo Bills
, giving him his only Super Bowl title. He played
college football
for the
Boston College Eagles
before playing ten seasons in the NFL from 1987 to 1996 for the Cowboys,
Seattle Seahawks
, and
Philadelphia Eagles
.
Early years
[
edit
]
At
Jean Ribault High School
in 1982, he made first-team All-City and All-Conference, while leading all Jacksonville
wide receivers
in catches (47), yards (746) and
touchdowns
(7).
Martin accepted a scholarship to play for
Boston College
, where he was a three-year starter and is recognized as one of the top
wide receivers
in school history.
In 1985, he was named as an All-East
wide receiver
, had a career-high 172 receiving yards against
University of Pittsburgh
, and was key contributor in Boston College’s
Cotton Bowl
win. He also caught the winning
touchdown
pass in the final seconds of
Boston College
27-24
Hall of Fame Bowl
victory over
University of Georgia
in 1986.
As a punt return specialist, he led the nation in yardage in 1985 (510). He set Boston College records for career returns (79 for 1,012 yards), single season yardage (510), single game yardage (166), and scored four
touchdowns
on punt runbacks.
- 1983: 6 catches for 119 yards with 1 TD
- 1984: 37 catches for 715 yards with 10 TD
- 1985: 49 catches for 958 yards with 9 TD
- 1986: 41 catches for 545 yards with 8 TD
In 2000, he was Inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame. He still holds the career
touchdown
receptions record with 28, remains second in career yardage (2,337 yards) and fifth in receptions (133). Overall, he scored 194 career points.
Professional career
[
edit
]
Dallas Cowboys (first stint)
[
edit
]
Martin was drafted in the fourth round of the
1987 NFL Draft
by the
Dallas Cowboys
, after dropping because of concerns over his size and speed.
[1]
He was used mostly as a punt and kickoff returner as a rookie after missing the first 8 games with injury. Nicknamed "K-Mart", by his second season he was named the starter
wide receiver
alongside
Michael Irvin
and finished third on the team with 49 receptions.
[2]
In
1989
, he led the team in receptions (46) and receiving yards (644), even though he was placed on the
injured reserve list
on November 21, with a left knee interior cruciate ligament injury.
[3]
The next year, he repeated as the team leader in receptions (64) and receiving yards (732).
With the arrival of
Alvin Harper
in
1991
, he was limited to a third down role and as a punt returner, where he ranked third in the
NFC
with an 11.6 average. Against the
Philadelphia Eagles
, he returned a punt 85 yards for a game-winning touchdown in a 25?13 win and also set a franchise record with 124 total punt return yards in a game.
Martin caught 32 passes for 359 yards and three
touchdowns
, while also finishing second in the
NFL
with a 12.7 punt return average during the
1992
Super Bowl
championship season. His six-yard touchdown reception in the closing minutes of the NFC Championship game sealed a 30-20 Dallas victory over the favored San Francisco 49ers. He participated in
Super Bowl XXVII
and did not have any receptions in the game, but returned 3 punts for 35 yards and 4 kickoffs for 79 for a total of 114 yards, the same number of yards that
Michael Irvin
had with his 6 receptions in the game.
After the season, the Cowboys couldn't resign him because of
salary cap
considerations, so he declared for
free agency
, leaving as the franchise all-time leader in punt-return yardage with 1,803 yards and the tenth leading receiver (212 receptions, 2,703 yards and 8 touchdowns). He also led the team in punt returns in five different seasons, tying the record held by
Bob Hayes
.
Seattle Seahawks
[
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]
Martin signed with the
Seattle Seahawks
as an unrestricted free agent in
1993
and had his best statistical season with 57 receptions for 798 yards and 5 receiving
touchdowns
(led the team). He was also the team punt returner and ranked 10th in the
AFC
with an 8.4 average.
In two years with the team, he registered 113 receptions, 1,479 yards and six
touchdowns
. He was left unprotected for the
1995 NFL Expansion Draft
.
[4]
Jacksonville Jaguars
[
edit
]
He was selected by the
Jacksonville Jaguars
in the
1995 NFL Expansion Draft
, but was later released to reach the 95-man roster limit.
[5]
Philadelphia Eagles
[
edit
]
After his release he signed as a
free agent
with the
Philadelphia Eagles
,
[6]
and appeared in nine games during the
1995 season
, catching 17 passes for 206 yards. He was placed on the
injured reserve list
on December 13,
1995
.
[7]
Dallas Cowboys (second stint)
[
edit
]
Martin re-signed with the Cowboys in
1996
, catching 25 passes for 380 yards. He retired at the end of the season, finishing his career with 367 passes for 4,768 yards, 15
touchdowns
, 261 punt returns for 2,567 yards and 76 kickoff returns for 1,453 yards.
Personal life
[
edit
]
He was a
special teams
and
wide receivers
assistant coach at
Jacksonville University
in 2000.
[8]
He left to coach the
wide receivers
and
special teams
for the
University of North Texas
in 2001 and 2002, before resigning from the team
[9]
following his arrest on drug charges.
[10]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"1987 NFL Draft Listing"
.
Pro-Football-Reference.com
. Retrieved
September 30,
2023
.
- ^
AP (August 5, 1988).
"Landry eyeing Martin for help at receiver"
.
The Victoria Advocate
.
- ^
AP (November 21, 1989).
"Cowboys lose top wide receiver"
.
The Item
.
- ^
AP (January 18, 1995).
"Martins, Edmunds among six Hawks left for new teams"
.
The Spokesman-Review
.
- ^
"NFL Expansion Draft"
.
Tampa Bay Times
. February 16, 1995
. Retrieved
November 2,
2023
.
- ^
Paolantonio, S. A. (June 13, 1995).
"Kelvin Martin an Eagle: If you can't beat them, join them. And if you have beaten them, join them anyway"
.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
. Retrieved
January 26,
2011
– via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
"Transactions"
.
Gettysburg Times
. December 14, 1995.
- ^
"College football: Martin hired at UNT"
.
The Victoria Advocate
. April 26, 2001.
- ^
"Thursday's transactions"
.
Eugene Register-Guard
. September 13, 2002.
- ^
"Former Cowboy and current North Texas coach Kelvin Martin arrested"
.
Plainview Daily Herald
. August 30, 2002.