Summer Premium Live and Catalog Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/14/2016
Born in West Virginia in 1896, George Marshall had his own Marshall plan. As a huge sports fan, he wanted to be around the games he loved. After the self-made man ran a chain of laundries in Washington, D.C., he eventually owned the “Washington Palace Five” basketball team, also known as the Palace Five Laundrymen from his laundry chain, but the team folded in 1928.
In 1932, he and three other partners were awarded an NFL franchise for Boston, making George Marshall as one of the original founding fathers of the NFL, similar to Wellington Mara of the New York Giants, Art Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers and George Halas of the Chicago Bears. Marshall’s team became known as the Boston Braves, as they played on the same field as baseball's Boston Braves, but Marshall's partners left the team after one season, leaving him in complete control.
A year later, he moved the team from Braves Field to Fenway Park, which the team would share with the Red Sox, hiring coach "Lone Star" William Henry Dietz, who may have been part Sioux, and changed the team nickname to the Redskins, as there were four Native Americans on the original Redskins team in 1933.
Marshall owned the team until his death in 1969, and was a hands on, innovative owner, creating many rules to help increase scoring and broaden the fan base.
After his election to the Hall of Fame in 1963, Marshall was awarded this amazing ring. The blue stone has the HOF insignia on top surrounded by “PRO FOOTBALL”S HALL OF FAME” in raised relief. One shank has his name “GEORGE MARSHALL” with “ELECTED 1963” sandwiched over a three player theme. The other shank features the title of “FOUNDER” with a raised image of the Hall of Fame building and “HALL OF FAME Canton OH” below. Within the band of this size 9 - 30 gram ring is the “JOSTENS 10K” stamp. Featuring near perfect features and just the slightest bit of wear on the inside band, this Hall of Famer ring presented to one of the NFL’s founding fathers grades minimally as Near Mint.