Robert Wells Marshall (March 12, 1880 – August 27, 1958) was an American sportsman. He was best known for playing football; however, Marshall also competed in baseball, track, boxing, ice hockey and wrestling. When Marshall played baseball for Minneapolis Central High School, he played first base for three years. Central was the champion of the Twin Cities High Schools for Marshall's junior and senior years, of 1900 and 1901. When he played baseball for the University of Minnesota, he also played first base for two years, 1904 and 1905, helping the university to win the Western Conference Championship in 1905. Marshall played end for the football team of the University of Minnesota from 1904 to 1906. In 1906, Marshall kicked a 48-yard field goal to beat the University of Chicago 4-2 (field goals counted as four points). He was the first African American to play football in the Western Conference (later the Big Ten). He graduated in 1907 and played with Minneapolis pro teams, the Deans and the Marines. From 1920 through 1924, he played in the National Football League with the Rock Island Independents, the Minneapolis Marines, and the Duluth Kelleys. Along with Fritz Pollard, he was one of the two first African Americans to play in the NFL. Personal life Marshall was the son of Richard Marshall and Symanthia Gillespie Marshall. His maternal grandfather was Ezekiel Gillespie, a former slave and civil rights pioneer. His 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. While in high school, Marshall's mother died, and he began working as a janitor to support his three siblings. In 1918, Marshall married Irene Knott of Great Falls, Montana. The couple had four children. Baseball career Shortly after graduating from the University of Minnesota with a degree in law, Marshall played third base for the Minneapolis "Lund-Lands" for one season, in 1906. He played third base for one season for Lamoure, North Dakota helping the team win third place in a league of eight teams. 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. Marshall left the law offices, spending many years back on the diamonds, playing semi-pro baseball for pre-Negro