Arthur Marshall, a former University of Georgia wide receiver who went on to play five NFL seasons with the Denver Broncos and New York Giants, died Wednesday at 57 after a battle with stomach cancer, according to multiple reports from his hometown.
Marshall made his name long before the league. He was a standout at Hephzibah High School and then became one of Georgia’s most productive big-play receivers during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
At Georgia from 1988-91, Marshall finished with 67 receptions for 1,186 yards, an average of 17.7 yards per catch, and four touchdowns. His senior year was his biggest at the college level: 39 catches, 524 yards, and a Georgia team that went 9-3 and finished No. 19 in the Associated Press poll. He also added 15 kickoff returns for 347 yards that season.
Marshall entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with Denver in 1992 and spent two seasons there before moving on to the Giants in 1994. He stayed with New York through the 1996 season.
Over 68 regular-season games, Marshall totaled 87 catches for 1,267 yards and four touchdowns. He also chipped in as a runner and return man, finishing with 14 carries for 65 yards, 59 punt returns for 590 yards and 23 kickoff returns for 381 yards. His best season came as a rookie in Denver, when he caught 26 passes for 493 yards and a touchdown.
Marshall also carved out a strange little corner of NFL history. While with the Broncos, he completed both of his career passing attempts for touchdowns.
The first came in 1992, when he hit Cedric Tillman for an 81-yard score against Dallas, then a record for the longest touchdown pass thrown by a non-quarterback. His second completion, in 1993, went 30 yards to Derek Russell.
His life after football also included a major legal case. In 2009, federal authorities arrested Marshall on charges of bank fraud, mail fraud and money laundering, saying he had used false information to secure more than $1 million in real-estate loans.
A year later, he pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud and received a 69-month federal prison sentence, along with five years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay more than $3.6 million in restitution.
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