Con Marshall inducted into Neb. Sports Hall of Fame
By GEORGE LEDBETTER, Record Editor Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Con Marshall of Chadron, a self-confessed “worst athlete ever” who has made a career recording the athletic achievements of others, joined the top names in Nebraska High School athletics this weekend as a member of the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame.
Marshall, the semi-retired sports information director at Chadron State College and a regular writer for The Chadron Record and other publications, was among 19 athletes, coaches, officials and contributors inducted into the hall of fame at a ceremony in Lincoln Sunday, Sept. 28.
The Hall of Fame board of directors selected Marshall because of his long career as a sports writer and promoter of high school sports, said Dennis ‘Buck’ Edwards of Chadron, who nominated his long-time friend for the spot.
“He is just a great person and a great high school sports advocate,” Edwards said. “He is so good at what he does...I don’t know anybody that works harder at their job than Con. We don’t get ink in papers around the country from sitting on our thumbs.”
In a reporting career that began as a Chadron State College student in the 1960s, Marshall has gotten lots of ink on pages of newspapers around the region, but sports writing wasn’t part of his first venture into the profession. “I worked on the (CSC) Eagle, but I wasn’t the sports editor,” he said last week. “When I went to work for The Chadron Record in 1964, I sold ads a little bit at first.”
It was only after shifting to the paper’s news department, a one-man operation, that Marshall began writing extensively about sports, among other subjects. “I did the whole thing. There was just me. I didn’t write funerals and weddings, but I did everything else,” he said. “We didn’t have any teletypes or anything, but we had a lot of space to fill...I wrote all the sports and started a column.”
After three years, Marshall took a job at the Scottsbluff Star Herald, but concentrated on agricultural news and did only limited ‘game day’ sports reporting. Then in 1969, when Marshall returned to Chadron as the full-time information and sports information director for Chadron State College, he found the niche that allowed him to pursue his passion for sports.
That interest had started long before, though, Marshall said. “I was interested in sports from about the fourth grade on, when my grandfather hired somebody and his two children...played baseball,” he said. “They loved to play baseball and showed us how out in the country...Every recess for the next four years, we played baseball.”
His interest sparked, Marshall started listening to baseball games on the radio, and, when a broken arm laid him up in hospital in Denver and he got a copy of Baseball Digest magazine, he began reading about the sport too.
Interest in the game didn’t come with any skill at playing, though. “I was the worst athlete. I was never even all-back yard, or all-recess (team),” he laughed. “I was the worst athlete, but I always enjoyed athletics.”
The enjoyment of athletic games carries over to reporting on them, Marshall said. “I think I like it (sports) because you get a result, you get an outcome,” he said. “Sometimes in other things you don’t know what the outcome will be.”
And Marshall said he has mostly positive feelings about the many athletes he has reported on over the years. “I seldom met an athlete I didn’t like,” he said. “I admire all those guys because I wasn’t an athlete at all...I appreciate people who do things I can’t do.”
The enjoyment of athletic games carries over to reporting on them, Marshall said. “I think I like it (sports) because you get a result, you get an outcome,” he said. “Sometimes in other things you don’t know what the outcome will be.”
And Marshall said he has mostly positive feelings about the many athletes he has reported on over the years. “I seldom met an athlete I didn’t like,” he said. “I admire all those guys because I wasn’t an athlete at all...I appreciate people who do things I can’t do.”
The statistical side of sports also seems to hold a fascination for Marshall, who maintains extensive records on Panhandle high school teams. “Con is the guru of high school records around the western part of the state,” said Edwards.
Besides keeping close track of the area’s high school football teams, “I’ve got the list of 1,000 point scorers (in basketball), and the (results of) track meets all around, stuff like that,” said Marshall. “I’ve got a list of everybody from Chadron High School who ever placed in a state track meet. I don’t think many schools do that.”
Those extensive records have made Marshall the ‘go to’ person for schools that don’t have compilation of statistics, such as Mitchell, which recently needed football records. “I found records of their high school from every year except 1969,” Marshall said. “I couldn’t find that.”
Marshall acknowledged that he has a reputation of knowing everything there is to know about area sports, but he says its not necessarily deserved. “People think I can remember a lot of things, but I think more it’s that I have pretty good records. By doing a little digging, I can usually find the background.”
Although computers can make such research easier, Marshall, who started in the business in the days of linotype machines and hot lead type, said much of his information is still stored on paper. “One of the things I’ve done right, I kept a scrapbook of everything I ever wrote, starting when I worked on The Chadron Record,” he said. “I kept statistics and took pictures for a long time until we got computers...I’ve used a whole lot more yellow notepads than I have computer disks.”
Although sports is d Marshall’s forte, he says it’s not the only thing he likes to write about. “I enjoy writing a story about a rancher or anybody as much as I do writing sports really,” he said. “I get just as much kick out of writing the stories about the people who go into the Dawes County Agricultural Hall of Fame as I do writing the ones about the people who go into the sports hall of fame.”
Taking pleasure in his work also means that Marshall doesn’t mind the long hours that sports journalism often demands. “I’ve seldom ever worked a 40-hour week. It’s always been 60 or something like that,” he said. “Peg (Marshall’s wife) has become accustomed to my long hours....She usually knows where to find me. I’m either at The Record...looking up an old story, or I’m at my office.”
Even in semi-retirement, Marshall still puts in work hours that would dismay most people, and said it’s not a problem for him. “I don’t mind it. I enjoy it,” he said. “I don’t have any other (hobbies). Our church is important, but I don’t play golf or bowl.”
That dedication is part of why Marshall was honored by the Hall of Fame, said Edwards. “We have a special category (for admission to the hall). Con’s induction is based on his contributions. It has nothing to do with money, It’s time and effort,” he said. “He is so good at what he does, he deserves to be inducted.”
del.icio.us
Digg
NewsVine
Fark
The opinions above are from readers of lawrencecountyjournal.com and in no way represent the views of the Rapid City Journal or Lee Enterprises.
Lawrencecountyjournal.com encourages readers to offer their opinions on our local stories. We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. For this reason, comments are first reviewed and may not post immediately, especially during overnight/weekend hours. No comment may contain:
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy