Vester Marshall (December 22, 1948 - January 5, 2023) was a retired professional basketball small forward who played one season in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Seattle SuperSonics during the 1973–74 season.

Vester Marshall
Personal information
BornDecember 22, 1948
DiedJanuary 5, 2023 (age 74)
Shoreline WA
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High schoolDruid (Tuscaloosa, Alabama)
CollegeOklahoma (1968–1970)
NBA draft1970: undrafted
PositionSmall forward
Number45
Career history
1973–1974Seattle SuperSonics
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference

Biography

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Marshall was born on December 22, 1948. He became a standout basketball player for the Druid High School in Tuscaloosa, Alabama where he led his team to the state championship his first year. Marshall participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches along with Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. He attended University of Oklahoma where his teammates included Garfield Heard and Clifford Ray. Coach John MacLeod removed Marshall from the basketball team for leading a racially motivated protest.

After graduating, he went to Mexico to play professional basketball. In December 1973 the Seattle SuperSonics waived Jim McDaniels and replaced him on the roster by Marshall who signed for the league minimum US$25,000 ($141,558.44 adjusted for inflation). He practices yoga and has been an instructor in Seattle, Washington. He was an assistant coach at Bellevue Community College for two years (1978–79). Marshall has been an ordained minister since 2006. In 2008, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote an article on Marshall where it stated he lived in a studio apartment in Seattle working as a street minister, herbalist and artist.[1]

References

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  1. ^ Raley, Dan. "Renaissance, man: Ex- Sonic savors revival as Belltown street minister". SeattlePI.com. Seattle, Washington: Hearst Seattle Media, LLC. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
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