Marshall Goldberg

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Marshall Goldberg (October 25, 1917 – April 3, 2006) was an American football running back with the Chicago Cardinals in the National Football League.

Goldberg was born in Elkins, West Virginia. He was a high school legend, captaining his Elkins High School football, basketball, and track teams in 1935, and was elected All-State in each sport.

At the University of Pittsburgh under coach Jock Sutherland, he led his team to back-to-back national championships in 1936 and 1937. Goldberg's 1936 team won the Rose Bowl, and the 1937 Panthers earned the National Collegiate Championship. He was finished third in the 1937 Heisman Trophy voting, and was runner-up for the 1938 Heisman Trophy, and a two-time All-American (1937 & 1938). During his Pitt career he amassed 1,957 rushing yards, a school record that stood until 1974 when Tony Dorsett surpassed it.

After college he played professional football for the Chicago Cardinals from 1939-43, interrupted by his service during World War II in the U.S. Navy, then again from 1946-48. The Cardinals won the 1947 NFL Championship and captured the Division title in 1948. Goldberg was named 2nd team all-pro once, in 1942.

Later Sports Illustrated named him a member of the 1930s College Football Team of the Decade. In 1958 he was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame, and later he was also inducted into the Halls of Fame of West Virginia, the City of Pittsburgh, and Pop Warner Football, and the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

He worked in the insurance industry after his football career ended. In 1965 he took over a machine parts company, Marshall Goldberg Machine Tools Ltd., of Rosemont, Illinois.

Goldberg died at age 88 at a nursing home in Chicago.

On August 24, 2007 Goldberg and Emmitt Thomas have been selected by the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Seniors Committee as finalists for election into the Hall of Fame with the Class of 2008. However, he was not selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2008.

Following his death, his daughter Ellen Tullos and his widow Rita helped to set up The Marshall Goldberg Traumatic Brain Injury Fund at The University of Illinois at Chicago. Goldberg had sustained a number of concussions during his career, which the family felt contributed to difficulties later in his life. This fund has been instrumental in bringing attention to the problem of head injury in athletes.

[edit] External links

• College Football Hall of Fame
• Hall of Fame obituary
• Jewish Sports bio

[edit] References

• Paul Zeise (2006). Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Obituary of Marshall Goldberg. Retrieved April 6, 2006.