Marshall Goldberg, an All-American running back who led the University of Pittsburgh team to the consensus national championship in 1937 and who later became a six-time All-Pro defensive back for the Chicago Cardinals, helping them win the NFL championship in 1947, died Monday in Chicago. He was 88.
His wife, Rita Goldberg, said he died in a nursing home, where he had been suffering in recent years from the effects of brain injuries caused by 14 or 15 concussions he received as a football player.
Though he made his mark as an offensive star in college, Goldberg became best known in the pros as a defensive standout. After a knee injury limited his abilities on offense in 1947, he became a one-way player, believed to be the first in the National Football League to play defense exclusively.
In the 1947 title game, he made an interception that was instrumental in the Cardinals' 28-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at Comiskey Park in Chicago. It was the franchise's only championship won in a title game. (The 1925 Cardinals were awarded the championship for having the best record.)
The Cardinals had a chance to repeat the following season in Philadelphia but lost, 7-0, in a game played in a blizzard. It was Goldberg's last game. He retired from football at age 31. (It was also the last appearance in a title game by the Cardinals, who later moved to St. Louis and then to Arizona.)
Goldberg was born on Oct. 24, 1917, in Elkins, West Virginia. His father owned the local movie theater. Goldberg was captain of his high school football, basketball and track teams, winning all-state honors in football. He was recruited by numerous colleges, including Notre Dame.
"In those days, a Goldberg at Notre Dame would have been a big thing," he once said, alluding to his being Jewish and the university's being Roman Catholic. He chose Pittsburgh.
At 5-11, 190 pounds, Goldberg was an explosive runner. As a sophomore, he was part of the 1936 team that beat Washington in the Rose Bowl, 21-0. In one game that season, against mighty Notre Dame, he ran for 131 yards. He also made first-team All-American at halfback in 1937.
In 1938, when the team was shorthanded at fullback, Goldberg volunteered to play the position. He went on to win All-American honors again, surprising even his coach, the legendary Jock Sutherland, and was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.
In all, he rushed for 1,957 yards at Pittsburgh, a program record that stood until 1974, when Tony Dorsett broke it.
Goldberg was drafted by the struggling Cardinals in 1939. The Cardinals hardly gave their runners much protection, and in his first season, Goldberg played with a broken foot. The team finished 1-10. By 1941, however, he had developed into one of the league's better players. Playing both offense and defense, he led the league in interceptions and was third in rushing yardage, third in punt returns and first in kickoff returns. But the Cardinals finished 3-7-1.
"In those years," he once said, "the Bears, Giants, Packers and Redskins controlled the league. The rest of the league was just cannon fodder for them. We never had any depth. One year we finished with 17 players. The rest were released. They didn't want to pay a guy US$150 a game if they weren't going to use him."
Goldberg joined the Navy in 1943, spending two years in the South Pacific during World War II and earning the rank of lieutenant. After football, he owned his own machine tool company and became a millionaire.
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