BleedGopher
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per Mark:
Odds are Bobby Marshall is the greatest football player, the most distinguished Minnesotan and the most multifaceted Black pioneer you’ve never heard of.
As the first full century of NFL games officially faded into the history books this past week, today’s players look forward to a future in which their voices can impact social justice. But it’s also important, leaders say, to look back and honor the backs upon which today’s opportunities were built.
Marshall was the first Black athlete at the University of Minnesota, playing multiple sports and becoming one of the greatest football players in school history. He made the College Football Hall of Fame posthumously in 1971. In 1999, the Star Tribune ranked him 51st in its Top 100 most influential Minnesotans — and the state’s 10th-greatest football player — of the 20th century.
Marshall also is believed to be the first Black person to:
• Graduate from Minnesota’s law school.
• Be appointed to the state grain department, where he worked for 39 years.
• Play professional hockey, his favorite sport, in the U.S. when he signed with an independent team in Pennsylvania.
• Serve as an assistant coach for Gophers football and the Western Conference, which became the Big Ten.
Yet because he was Black and Jewish, Marshall couldn’t live in the dorms on campus.
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
Odds are Bobby Marshall is the greatest football player, the most distinguished Minnesotan and the most multifaceted Black pioneer you’ve never heard of.
As the first full century of NFL games officially faded into the history books this past week, today’s players look forward to a future in which their voices can impact social justice. But it’s also important, leaders say, to look back and honor the backs upon which today’s opportunities were built.
Marshall was the first Black athlete at the University of Minnesota, playing multiple sports and becoming one of the greatest football players in school history. He made the College Football Hall of Fame posthumously in 1971. In 1999, the Star Tribune ranked him 51st in its Top 100 most influential Minnesotans — and the state’s 10th-greatest football player — of the 20th century.
Marshall also is believed to be the first Black person to:
• Graduate from Minnesota’s law school.
• Be appointed to the state grain department, where he worked for 39 years.
• Play professional hockey, his favorite sport, in the U.S. when he signed with an independent team in Pennsylvania.
• Serve as an assistant coach for Gophers football and the Western Conference, which became the Big Ten.
Yet because he was Black and Jewish, Marshall couldn’t live in the dorms on campus.
A century ago, Bobby Marshall made history in NFL's first game
Bobby Marshall, a 40-year-old Black lawyer from Minneapolis, played in the NFL's first game.
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
