Vester Marshall

Vester Marshall Jr. (December 22, 1948 – January 5, 2023) was an American professional basketball small forward who played one season in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Seattle SuperSonics during the 1973–74 season.

Biography Marshall was born on December 22, 1948, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He became a standout basketball player for the Druid High School in Tuscaloosa where he led his team to the state championship his first year. Marshall participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches along with Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. He attended University of Oklahoma where his teammates included Garfield Heard and Clifford Ray. Coach John MacLeod removed Marshall from the basketball team for leading a racially motivated protest. He missed the 1970–71 season due to his suspension.

After graduating, he went to Mexico to play professional basketball. In December 1973 the Seattle SuperSonics waived Jim McDaniels and replaced him on the roster by Marshall who signed for the league minimum US$25,000 ($ adjusted for inflation). He practices yoga and has been an instructor in Seattle, Washington. He was an assistant coach at Bellevue Community College for two years (1978–79). Marshall has been an ordained minister since 2006. In 2008, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote an article on Marshall where it stated he lived in a studio apartment in Seattle working as a street minister, herbalist and artist.

Marshall died on January 5, 2023, at the age of 74 in Shoreline, Washington.

Regular season YearTeamGPMPGFG%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPGSeattle 13 13.4 .241 .429 2.8 .3 .3 .2 1.3