| No. 58, 55 | |||||||||||||||
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| Position | Linebacker | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | (1962-04-18)April 18, 1962 (age 63) Titusville, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 231 lb (105 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Astronaut (Titusville) | ||||||||||||||
| College | Florida | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1984: 1st round, 11th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Wilber Buddyhia Marshall (born April 18, 1962) is an American former professionalfootball player who was alinebacker in theNational Football League (NFL) for five teams from 1984 until 1995. Marshall playedcollege football for theFlorida Gators, was twice recognized as a consensusAll-American, and is a member of theCollege Football Hall of Fame.
He was selected in the first round of the1984 NFL draft by theChicago Bears and played inSuper Bowl XX.[1] Marshall later was part of theSuper Bowl XXVI-winningWashington Redskins team, and also played for theHouston Oilers andArizona Cardinals before finishing his career with theNew York Jets.
Marshall was born inTitusville, Florida.[2] He attendedAstronaut High School in Titusville,[3] where he was aParade magazineAll-American high school football player for the Astronaut War Eagles.[4] Future fellow NFL starCris Collinsworth played quarterback on Astronaut's football team during Marshall's freshman year. In 2007, twenty-nine years after he graduated from high school, theFlorida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) named Marshall to its "All-Century Team", recognizing him as one of the thirty-three greatest Florida high school football players of the last 100 years.[4]
Marshall accepted an athletic scholarship to attend theUniversity of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was first a tight-end, before becoming a starlinebacker for coachCharley Pell'sGators teams from1980 to1983.[5] He was the core of a ferocious Gators defense and finished his college career with 343tackles, fifty-eight tackles for a loss, and twenty-threequarterback sacks.[5] Marshall was a three-time first-teamAll-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection (1981, 1982, 1983) and a two-time consensus first-teamAll-American (1982, 1983).[5][6] He was a finalist for theLombardi Award in both 1982 and 1983, and was named "National Defensive Player of the Year" byABC Sports in 1983.[5]The Gainesville Sun named him a first-team selection to the Gators "Team of the Century" in 1999, as well as the "Defensive Player of the Century." Marshall was inducted into theUniversity of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great,"[7] and was named to the University of Florida's Ring of Honor in 2007, joining Florida football greatsSteve Spurrier,Jack Youngblood,Emmitt Smith andDanny Wuerffel.[8] Marshall was elected to theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 2008.[3] In one of a series of articles published byThe Gainesville Sun in 2006, he was recognized as the No. 4 player among the top 100 all-time Florida Gators.[9]
Marshall is perhaps best known as a significant member of twoSuper Bowl championship teams, the 1985 Bears and the 1991 Redskins.[10] In 1985, the Bears, behind one of the most celebrated defenses in league history, finished the regular season 15–1, shut out both opponents in the playoffs, and beat theNew England Patriots 46–10 inSuper Bowl XX. In a 37–17 week 16 victory over theDetroit Lions, Marshall delivered a stunning hit on Lions' quarterbackJoe Ferguson that left Ferguson flat on his back. But perhaps Marshall's most memorable moment came in the1985 NFC Championship Game, against theLos Angeles Rams. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, snow began to fall atSoldier Field, eliciting loud applause from the Bears fans in attendance. On the next play, Bears defensive endRichard Dent sacked Rams quarterbackDieter Brock, causing Brock to fumble the football. Marshall picked up the loose football and, alongsideWilliam "the Refrigerator" Perry, ran 52 yards through the falling snow. The Bears beat the Rams 24–0, and Marshall's fumble return for a touchdown continues to be the highlight from that game most replayed.[11]Fox News Chicago also named that play to be the most iconic moment of the game, and of the season, as well. He also had a good performance in the Super Bowl, recording a sack and recovering a fumble. In 1986, Marshall recorded five interceptions, 5.5 sacks, and two defensive touchdowns, and was named first-teamAll-Pro for the first time.
In the spring of 1988, Marshall became the first NFLfree agent in eleven years to sign with another team, agreeing to a 5-year, $6 million contract offer to play for theWashington Redskins, the team that had eliminated the Bears from the NFL playoffs in each of the previous two seasons.[12] When the Bears declined to match the offer, the Redskins had to give them their two first-round draft picks in the next twoNFL drafts as compensation.
Marshall won another championship ring with the Redskins in the 1991 season, when they beat the Buffalo Bills 37–24 inSuper Bowl XXVI, and Marshall finished the game with several tackles and a sack. A week before that, he had a superb performance in the Redskins 41–10 win over theDetroit Lions, sacking Detroit quarterbackErik Kramer three times. During the season, he had 5 interceptions which he returned for 75 return yards. Marshall was named second-team All-Pro following the 1991 season and was named first-team All-Pro for the second time in his career following the 1992 season. In 1993, Marshall reunited withBuddy Ryan, who had been the Bears'defensive coordinator during Marshall's first two seasons, signing a contract to play for theHouston Oilers. When Ryan left the Oilers to become head coach of theArizona Cardinals in 1994, Marshall joined him there for one season. He then finished his NFL career in 1995 as a member of theNew York Jets.
In his twelve NFL seasons, Marshall recorded forty-five sacks and intercepted twenty-three passes, which he returned for 304 yards and three touchdowns.[2] He also forced 24 fumbles and recovered sixteen, returning them for seventy yards and two touchdowns.[2] He is among the few players who have recorded twenty sacks and twenty interceptions in their career.
Marshall has spent much of his life after football suffering from injuries he sustained during his professional career. His health has declined as the years progressed, but Marshall has refused to receive surgery to repair his injured spine, shoulder, and knees. Marshall has battled the NFL and the players' union in court over a settlement pertaining to his injuries.[13] Marshall prevailed in his long-pending dispute over his entitlement to total disability benefits from the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan in 2008. However, by that time, he had filed for bankruptcy due to legal and medical expenses, and he refused to appear at a 25th anniversary tribute for the 1985 Bears team due to disagreements with the McCaskey family over player treatment.[14][15]
Marshall lived in the Washington DC suburbs after retirement until moving back to his hometown of Titusville, Florida several years later.[3][16]
| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | Int | Yds | TD | FF | FR | ||
| 1984 | CHI | 15 | 1 | 19 | – | – | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1985 | CHI | 16 | 15 | 78 | – | – | 6.0 | 4 | 23 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 1986 | CHI | 16 | 15 | 105 | – | – | 5.5 | 5 | 68 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| 1987 | CHI | 12 | 12 | 93 | – | – | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 1988 | WAS | 16 | 16 | 133 | – | – | 4.0 | 3 | 61 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 1989 | WAS | 16 | 16 | 108 | – | – | 4.0 | 1 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 1990 | WAS | 16 | 15 | 107 | – | – | 5.0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 1991 | WAS | 16 | 16 | 135 | – | – | 5.5 | 5 | 75 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 1992 | WAS | 16 | 16 | 138 | – | – | 6.0 | 2 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 1993 | HOU | 10 | 10 | 37 | – | – | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1994 | ARI | 15 | 15 | 58 | 42 | 16 | 1.0 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 1995 | NYJ | 15 | 6 | 32 | 25 | 7 | 1.0 | 2 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Career | 179 | 153 | 1,043 | 67 | 23 | 45.0 | 24 | 304 | 3 | 24 | 16 | |
