Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Robert Wells “Bobby” Marshall was a professional football player of African American and Jewish German heritage. He played football for Minneapolis Central high school and college football at Minnesota (1904-06). He is in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Professionally, Marshall played for the Minneapolis Deans (1907-09), Minneapolis Hennepins (1911), Minnesota All-Stars (1912, 1920-21, 1925), Minneapolis Marines (1913-17, 1919, 1927), Bobby Marshall’s All-Stars (1914), Minneapolis Beavers (1914), St. Paul White Fronts (1915), West Duluth (1916), Davenport Athletics (1917), Rock Island Independents (1919-20), Minneapolis Liberties (1921, 1925), Ironwood Legion (1921-22, 1924), University All-Stars (1922), Hibbing All-Stars (1923), Tollefson’s All-Stars (1923), Duluth Kelleys (1925), Twin City All-Stars (1926), Chippewa Falls Marines (1930), and Minnesota All-Stars (1932-34). He coached the Minneapolis Deans (1907-08) and Ironwood Legion (1922).

In 1960, Ossie Solem, who played for the University of Minnesota Gophers under Dr. Henry L. Williams, who was the first coach of the highly successful pre-war Minneapolis Marines, and who later coached at Luther College, Drake University, Iowa, Syracuse, and Springfield College, told Star Tribune columnist Dick Cullum that “The greatest football player I ever saw, anywhere, was Bobby Marshall."

From the College Hall of Fame:
He was the first African American to play football in the Big Nine (later the Big Ten)
https://footballfoundation.org/hof_sear ... 0in%201950.

Wikipedia (focuses more on baseball than football):
Along with Fritz Pollard, he was one of the two first African Americans to play in the NFL. and
Outside of athletics, Marshall practiced law as an attorney in the law office of Mr. William H. H. Franklin, and later at the well known firm of Nash and Armstrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Marshall

I've posted this before: http://collections.mnhs.org/mnhistoryma ... 58-174.pdf because I think its a really well done article, but my problem is he spent a lot of seasons not competing against the best players (too many 2nd and even 3rd tier pro teams). Given how hard it is to evaluate pre-NFL players, I find myself focussing on the ones who at least eventually played on the circuit of top teams. I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but I just don't see objective evidence that he was among the best players in the game for any period of time (I like to see 3 or 4 seasons usually). Still, if he got past the committee, I'd consider voting for him, but the OP researched teams in this region and prefers Rube Ursella as a candidate.

Some more info from a thread in 2020 (courtesy of Tanks):
https://www.profootballresearchers.com/ ... f=8&t=5874

That thread contains a link to this interesting article:
https://www.startribune.com/a-century-a ... 572627481/

Thanks @JuggernautJ - I actually searched for that thread and couldn't find it.

TanksAndSpartans wrote:Thanks @JuggernautJ - I actually searched for that thread and couldn't find it.

You are very welcome!
And feel free to call me J. (Jay). Everyone else does...

Oddly enough, I was looking for something entirely different when I stumbled across that thread!!