Alabama A&M: Martin, Pearl have strong ties to Tuskegee

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -Twenty-one years ago, Jay Martin and Cedric Pearl played in arguably the greatest game in the Alabama A&M/Tuskegee rivalry.

On Saturday, Martin and Pearl, now A&M assistants, will try to beat their alma mater.

The Bulldogs (0-2) will host the Golden Tigers (0-1) in the second annual Louis Crews Classic. Kickoff is 6 p.m. from Louis Crews Stadium and the game can be heard on 90.9 FM.

"I have passion for Tuskegee, but A&M pays our bills now," said Martin, a 1991 Tuskegee graduate. "We really want to win this game. We need to win this game for ourselves and our confidence. We've had a great week of practice and everybody is positive."

"We need to win ... that's the main thing," said Pearl, a 1992 Tuskegee graduate. "I know Tuskegee is the opponent, but our No. 1 priority is to win the football game and we need to win one soon."

Martin and Pearl were stalwarts at Tuskegee.

Martin was a three-year starter at inside linebacker for the Golden Tigers and was an All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference performer. Pearl was a three-year starter along the offensive line and was a three-time All-SIAC selection, including first-team in 1991.

One of the defining games in their careers was the 1990 A&M game.

The Bulldogs traveled to Tuskegee with the SIAC championship on the line and came away with a scintillating 44-43 victory as Tracy Kendall out-dueled Maurice Heard in a battle of the two best quarterbacks in the league.

"That's the game you don't ever forget," said Pearl, who serves as A&M's offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. "That's one of the greatest games in the rivalry. There was over 1,000 yards of offense and there were great players on the field.

"Todd Woulard. Chris Holder. Joe Washington. All of those guys played in the National Football League. It was a great football game. Unfortunately, we came out on the short end of it."

Tuskegee got some revenge Pearl's senior year, beating the Bulldogs 43-20 at Joe Davis Stadium. The rivalry came to an end after the 1999 season when A&M embarrassed Tuskegee 54-0.

The two schools met in 2008 and 2009 in the Circle City Classic in Indianapolis and split those meetings.

This will be Tuskegee's first visit to A&M since that 1999 shellacking.

"It was exciting the first time I coached against them in 2008 because I had never coached against Tuskegee," said Martin, who serves as A&M's inside linebackers coach. "It was real special to play them anywhere. Here, it's going to be more passionate because we played against A&M in Huntsville and a lot of people around the state are going to be able to come to the game."

Martin probably has a bigger stake in the game than Pearl because his father, Jim Martin, Sr., played and later became A&M's athletics director, but before that spent 23 years at Tuskegee, serving as assistant football coach, head baseball coach, head football coach and athletics director.

"The rivalry was passionate for him because he played here and worked here," Jay Martin said. "It's always been a rivalry in that respect. During the week of the game, all of my dad's friends would come by the house and talk about the game all week (when he was at Tuskegee). There was a lot of jaw-jacking between the two schools. You always wanted to get that "W."

"They're coming here, but if we had a chance to go there it would be worth everything. It's as close as we're going to get to a homecoming."

A&M coach Anthony Jones says he doesn't have to worry about where Martin's and Pearl's allegiance lies.

"They're Tuskegee graduates, but they're Bulldogs," Jones said. "They've been loyal to A&M and our football program. They've helped us win a lot of football games and you can't be successful without a good staff. They've done their part to help us win and hopefully, they'll do it again Saturday."