{"id":8265,"date":"2017-10-25T10:30:05","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T14:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=8265"},"modified":"2017-10-25T15:24:32","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T19:24:32","slug":"marshall-goldberg-pitt-football-prototype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2017\/10\/25\/marshall-goldberg-pitt-football-prototype\/","title":{"rendered":"Marshall Goldberg, Pitt’s prototype"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Goldberg <\/a>
Goldberg poses during a Pitt picture day. Photo undated. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\""Mad <\/a>
“Mad Marshall” appears during his fourth year with the Chicago Cardinals. Photo published Nov. 19, 1942. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Goldberg, <\/a>
Goldberg, playing as a Chicago Cardinal, breaks through a gap in the New York Giants’ defensive line. Photo published Nov. 9, 1941. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Marshall <\/a>
Marshall Goldberg (#42) makes a run. Photo published Sept. 8, 1940. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Goldberg <\/a>
Goldberg (bottom left corner) dodges tackles by the Rams Defense. Photo published 1940. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Marshall <\/a>
Marshall Goldberg Jr. (left) and Marshall Goldberg Sr. (right) pose on Pitt’s campus. Photo published April 19, 1959. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Long before there was Tony Dorsett, Dan Marino, Larry Fitzgerald, LeSean McCoy, Aaron Donald or any other transcendent football star who once donned a University of Pittsburgh uniform, there was Marshall Goldberg.<\/p>\n

For decades, long after his career was over, the halfback\/fullback stood as the best player in program history and, even now, he\u2019s still one of its most iconic. Having twice finished in the top three of the Heisman Trophy voting and having led his teams to a pair of national championships, Goldberg is a symbol of both nostalgia and hope. He\u2019s a remnant of better days, when the Panthers were a national powerhouse, while also serving as a reminder of the heights Pitt can ostensibly reach.<\/p>\n

Wednesday would have been the 100th birthday for Goldberg, who died in April 2006 at the age of 88. Though he has been dead for nearly a decade, his story on and away from the field remains captivating and relevant.<\/p>\n

The son of a Romanian immigrant, Goldberg was raised in Elkins, W.Va., about 130 miles south of Pittsburgh. From an early age, he seemed destined for athletic greatness, earning all-state honors in football, basketball and track. His endeavors on the gridiron made him a particularly coveted prospect, even catching the eye of coaches at Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn those days, a Goldberg at Notre Dame would have been a big thing,\u201d Goldberg once said, referencing his Jewish heritage.<\/p>\n

He ultimately chose Pitt, where he would help the behemoth of a program coach Jock Sutherland had built reach its apex.<\/p>\n

After playing halfback for the Panthers his first two seasons, Goldberg voluntarily switched to fullback, a move that helped create one of college football\u2019s most renowned units ever. With Goldberg at fullback, Dick Cassiano at left halfback, Curly Stebbins at right halfback and John Chickerneo at quarterback, Pitt had a double-wing offense became known as the \u201cDream Backfield,\u201d a group that overpowered and out-maneuvered most anyone that stood in its way. Fordham coach Jimmy Crowley, one of Notre Dame\u2019s famed \u201cFour Horsemen,\u201d was even once quoted as saying Goldberg and his three teammates were superior to the Irish\u2019s legendary quartet.<\/p>\n

In his three seasons at the school, Goldberg was a two-time all-American, rushed for 1,957 yards, a program record that stood until Dorsett broke it in the 1970s, and finished third (1937) and second (1938) in the Heisman Trophy voting. His numbers, while modest at first glance, came during an era in which offenses didn\u2019t record anything close to the gaudy statistics they post today. That those thundering runs came from someone who weighed just 185 pounds seems even more unbelievable by modern standards (for reference, Pitt\u2019s current starting running back, Darrin Hall, weighs 220 pounds at just 5-foot-11, no less).<\/p>\n

With those individual accolades came overwhelming team success, as Pitt claimed national championships in 1936 and 1937. In Goldberg\u2019s three seasons at the school, the Panthers went 25-3-2 and outscored opponents by a 630-127 margin. Guided by Goldberg\u2019s prowess and Sutherland\u2019s acumen, the Panthers were, in most every sense of the word, overwhelming.<\/p>\n

\u201cTony Dorsett was Pitt’s greatest runner, but Marshall was one of the greatest football players,\u201d said college football historian and longtime Pitt sports information director Beano Cook in a 2006 interview with the Post-Gazette\u2019s Paul Zeise.<\/p>\n

That run included the lone Rose Bowl victory in the program\u2019s history, a rout of Washington that helped lead Pitt to its seventh of nine claimed national championships. The team\u2019s experience in Pasadena, however, led to what would now be a shocking decision to decline an invitation to college football\u2019s preeminent game the following year, as decided by a 17-16 vote.<\/p>\n

In 1994, Goldberg explained the choice to the New York Times.<\/p>\n

Pitt had taken its 8-1 record west and hammered Washington, 21-0, in the Rose Bowl in 1936. It was understood that each of the Huskies received $100 for expenses as well as new suits.<\/p>\n

“We got nothing,” said Goldberg. “Except a sweater and a pair of pants. When we showed up for a reception with them, imagine how we felt. And this was with the Depression going on. Jock sold some bonds he had, and the other coaches threw some money into a pool. They gave us each $2, all they had. Then the bowl people took us out to the Santa Anita racetrack for an outing. Big deal. Two dollars at a racetrack. So we all threw in a dollar to make pools to bet. And tapped out quickly. You know what it’s like to stand around a racetrack with no money?”<\/p>\n

His No. 42 jersey is just one of 10 that has been retired by the university.<\/p>\n

Goldberg\u2019s college exploits gave him a chance at a professional career, something that wasn\u2019t always a given considering the relatively meager status of professional football in the late 1930s and early 1940s. He was a two-way standout for the Chicago Cardinals from 1939-43 and 1946-48, rushing for 1,644 career yards and helping lead the franchise to an NFL championship in 1947, a title he secured with an interception against the Philadelphia Eagles in the championship game.<\/p>\n

\"Goldberg <\/a>
Goldberg poses in his Navy uniform before traveling to Plattsburg, New York for training. Photo published Sept. 6, 1945. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Marshall <\/a>
Marshall Goldberg appears at Rogers Machinery, where he served as a consultant. Photo published Sept. 10, 1990. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Goldberg\u2019s career was interrupted for several years by World War II, as he enlisted in the Navy, fighting in the South Pacific and eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant.<\/p>\n

After retiring from football at age 31, he became a businessman in Illinois. In 1965, he took over a machine parts company \u2013 Marshall Goldberg Machine Tools Ltd., of Rosemont, Ill. \u2013 that made him a millionaire. He remained connected to his alma mater, becoming a prominent fundraiser and later joining its board of trustees.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most indelible aspect of his legacy, though, coincided with his death in 2006.<\/p>\n

It was then that his daughter, Ellen Tullos, and his wife, Rita Goldberg, set up the Marshall Goldberg Fund for Traumatic Brain Injury Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Over the course of his career, Goldberg had suffered about 15 known concussions, the effects of which plagued him in his final years before he died in a nursing home. With the creation of the fund, the Goldberg family hoped, would come a greater understanding of what ailed a loved one and many untold others.<\/p>\n

The fund was established at a relatively early time in the wider discussion of head trauma in football and, in many ways, helped advance the topic\u2019s visibility. It came only one year after neuropathologist Bennet Omalu published his groundbreaking paper \u201cChronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football League Player\u201d in the journal Neurosurgery and one year before the Sports Legacy Institute joined with the Boston University School of Medicine to form the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy.<\/p>\n

Goldberg\u2019s on-field accomplishments have earned him enshrinement in more than a dozen Halls of Fame, including the College Football Hall of Fame. Though he isn\u2019t a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his impact away from the sport is just as lasting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know a lot of great football players who aren’t in there,\u201d Goldberg once said. \u201cI don’t worry about that. There’s an old Italian proverb that says \u2018Life begins tomorrow.\u2019 I can’t worry about those things. I worry more about the stock market than I do about getting into the Hall of Fame.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Craig Meyer<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
(Left to right) Marshall Goldberg, Tony Dorsett and Tommy Harmon socialize at the 41st Dapper Dan banquet. Photo published Feb. 26, 1977.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long before there was Tony Dorsett, Dan Marino, Larry Fitzgerald, LeSean McCoy, Aaron Donald or…<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesMarshall Goldberg, Pitt’s prototype<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1066,944],"tags":[959,976,1346,1026,1376,1050],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2510,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/09\/18\/september-1938-we-found-this-cracked-and\/","url_meta":{"origin":8265,"position":0},"title":"When the Pitt Panthers were a national powerhouse","date":"September 18, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"On the front of the \u201cDream Backfield\u201d envelope is stamped this admonition: \u201cDo not allow anyone to use these without consulting management.\u201d","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-17-at-12.40.02-AM.png?fit=1200%2C466&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2386,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/22\/pitt-stadium-football-mecca\/","url_meta":{"origin":8265,"position":1},"title":"Pitt Stadium, football mecca","date":"October 22, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Pitt Stadium was completed in 1925, and on Sept. 26 of that year, Pitt christened the concrete bowl with a 26-0 victory over Washington and Lee.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mc3wd6wDJb1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C765&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2389,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/22\/pitt-stadium-razed\/","url_meta":{"origin":8265,"position":2},"title":"Pitt Stadium razed","date":"October 22, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Pitt Stadium was razed to make room for the Petersen Events Center.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mc3uzyA35P1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C796&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6928,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2016\/09\/01\/a-distant-memory-of-tony-dorsett\/","url_meta":{"origin":8265,"position":3},"title":"A distant memory of Tony Dorsett","date":"September 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cPeople have said I\u2019m too small for the pros,\u201d Tony Dorsett said in 1974. \u201cBut I know I can run. 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