38 Facts About Bobby Marshall

Bobby Marshall was best known for playing football; however, Marshall competed in baseball, track, boxing, ice hockey and wrestling.

Bobby Marshall played end alongside Sigmund Harris, who played quarterback.

In 1903, Bobby Marshall enrolled at the University of Minnesota where he played end for the Gophers.

Bobby Marshall got his first start in 1903 and was a regular stater from 1904 to 1906.

Bobby Marshall was the first African American to play football in the Western Conference.

Bobby Marshall graduated in 1907, and in the fall, he coached the Minneapolis Central football team, the freshman team at the University of Minnesota, and the independent professional Minneapolis Deans.

Bobby Marshall played for and coached the Deans until the team folded in 1909.

Bobby Marshall continued to serve as an assistant coach and scout for the Gophers in 1908 and 1910, and he coached at Parker College in Winnebago, Minnesota, in 1909.

In 1911, Bobby Marshall played for and coached his own team dubbed the Hennepins.

In 1912, Bobby Marshall played his first game with the Minnesota All-Stars, an ad hoc professional team of mostly of former Gophers players that would play an annual Thanksgiving Day game for several years.

Bobby Marshall played with the team again in 1920,1921, and 1925.

From 1913 to 1917, in early 1919, and again in 1927, Bobby Marshall played for the Minneapolis Marines independent professional team.

Bobby Marshall originally joined the roster just before the Marines played the Adams Athletic Club of Duluth, a precursor to the Duluth Kelleys of the National Football League.

Bobby Marshall was the first player with big college football experience to play for the pre-NFL Marines.

On September 26,1920, Bobby Marshall became the first African American athlete to play in an American Professional Football Association game when Rock Island played the St Paul Ideals, a team outside the NFL.

Bobby Marshall departed the NFL after the 1920 season, and in 1921 he played for both the independent professional Minneapolis Liberties and Ironwood Legion, while at the same time serving as an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota and coaching the football team at Dunwoody College.

Bobby Marshall coached and played again for Ironwood in 1922 and for the University All-Stars exhibition team.

In 1923, Bobby Marshall played for the Hibbing All-Stars and for the Tollefson's All-Stars exhibition team.

Bobby Marshall played for the Liberties again in 1925 before he returned to the NFL to play with the Duluth Kelleys that same year.

In 1929, Bobby Marshall coached the Rafters Baking Company team in the Minneapolis park league, a league that featured Joe Lillard on the Foshays, a team that drew 15,000 spectators on more than one occasion.

Three years later, at age 50 in 1930, Bobby Marshall played for the independent professional Chippewa Falls Marines, and in 1931 he served as line coach for the Ace Box Lunch team in the Minneapolis park league.

Bobby Marshall is in the College Football Hall of Fame and the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame.

When Bobby Marshall played baseball for Minneapolis Central High School, he played first base for three years.

Shortly after graduating from the University of Minnesota with a degree in law, Bobby Marshall played third base for the Minneapolis "Lund-Lands" for one season, in 1906.

Bobby Marshall played third base for one season in 1907 for Lamoure, North Dakota helping the team win third place in a league of eight teams.

Bobby Marshall bought the Colored Gophers team in 1911 and used the name Twin Cities Gophers.

Bobby Marshall played for and managing the Colored Gophers team occasionally until at least 1916.

From 1912 to 1914, Bobby Marshall played for a number of teams, including the Hennepins, St Joe-Deckerts, and St Joseph Saints in 1912, the Hennepins again and the West Side Athletics and St Cloud Pretzels in 1913, and the Pretzels again and the aforementioned Colored Gophers in 1914.

Bobby Marshall played for the Minneapolis Buffaloes in 1922, and he captained the Askin and Marine Colored Red Sox that same season.

Bobby Marshall played for the St Paul Uptown Sanitary team in 1923 and he appeared in games with John Donaldson and the All Nations team that same season.

In 1929, Bobby Marshall coached the Minneapolis All-Stars and managed the All-Nationals.

Bobby Marshall played for the Minneapolis White Sox in 1934.

Bobby Marshall raced his motorcycle in a state championship in 1914, and he played on independent professional basketball teams in 1925 and 1926, including the Minneapolis Uptowns in 1926.

Bobby Marshall's aunt was Jessie Gillespie Herndon, the second wife of Alonzo Herndon, founder and president of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, one of the most successful black-owned insurance businesses in the nation.

In 1918, Bobby Marshall married Irene Knott of Great Falls, Montana.

Bobby Marshall had a business affiliation with a Minneapolis restaurant, The Oriole.

For years, Bobby Marshall coached youngsters in football and boxing in Minneapolis.

Bobby Marshall was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971.