One of only three Western Kentucky men’s basketball student-athletes to earn consensus All-America honors, Tom Marshall passed away Friday in Fort Myers, Florida. He was 93 years old.

Marshall was a two-time All-America selection (1953 and ’54) and narrowly missed first-team consensus honors as a senior in ’54, landing on the second team. A three-time pick on All-Ohio Valley Conference teams (1952, ’53, ’54), he was the key figure on talent-rich Hilltopper teams that earned berths in the National Invitation Tournament in all three of those seasons.

The other two Hilltopper consensus All-Americans (both first team) were Clem Haskins (1967) and Jim McDaniels (1971).

Marshall completed his stellar career at WKU with school career records for points scored (1,909) and scoring average (19.1 ppg). Those two figures, here 70 years later, still rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in Hilltopper history.

Altogether, Marshall set school records in 16 stat categories in his four seasons. He remains the Topper record-holder in seven of those – field goals attempted in a season and for his career, free throws made and attempted in a season, rebounds in both a season and a career, and career rebounding average. He still ranks in the top six in the WKU record books on the nine other lists – points scored in a season and a career, scoring average in a season and in a career, field goals made in a season and career, free throws made and attempted in a career, and season rebounding average (he owns three of the top six averages in that category).

Overall, the four Hilltopper teams he played on won 99 of 123 games (80%), two OVC championships and three OVC tournament titles. The 1952 club was 26-5 and finished the year ranked No. 16, In 1964, the Toppers were 25-6 and again No. 16. The 1954 team was a sparkling 29-3 (including a 21-game winning streak) and was ranked as high as third in the nation before finishing No. 6.

A product of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, Marshall was a member of the inaugural class of the WKU Athletic Hall of Fame inducted in 1991 and he was one of five Hilltopper greats to have a jersey retired in their honor during the 1999-00 season. He was also a standout on the Topper golf team.

Marshall is one of just eight former Toppers to be selected in the first round of the NBA draft when the Rochester Royals made him the seventh pick in 1954. Only one of the other seven Toppers went higher in the draft (Clem Haskins was the number three pick in 1967).

He went on to play four seasons with the Royals (two in Rochester and two in Cincinnati) and one year with the Detroit Pistons. His last season in uniform in Cincinnati (’58-59), he served as team ”player-coach.” He then retired as a player but continued to coach the club in the 1959-60 season. At the time, he was the youngest head coach in NBA history.

Marshall is survived by his wife Betty.{&end}