AUBURN, Ala. – Doing what he loved until his final day, Phillip Marshall, the dean of the Auburn sports beat who covered the Tigers longer than anyone, passed away Friday at the age of 76.
“Heartbroken to hear the news,” said former Auburn baseball coach Hal Baird, who knew Marshall for more than 40 years. “It’s going to create a void. He had a great writing style. I’m certainly going to miss him.”
After a storied newspaper career in Birmingham, Huntsville, Decatur, Tuscaloosa and Montgomery, Marshall transitioned to digital journalism for the final decades of a career that spanned more than a half century, including a stint writing for AuburnTigers.com after helping launch Auburn Undercover in 2008.
“Auburn sports journalism has lost a legend and I’ve lost a dear friend,” said former women’s basketball coach Joe Ciampi. “Phillip’s passion for covering a game was matched only by his candor. I was fortunate to enjoy his companionship through our championship seasons at Auburn. Phillip covered Auburn sports with an extraordinary skill and passion. My deepest condolences to his family and friends.”
A second-generation sports writer who initially planned to be an attorney, Marshall mastered the trade from his famous father, Alabama Sports Hall of Famer Benny Marshall.
“Phillip was great because he learned at the foot of the master, his father Benny Marshall, who in my opinion was the greatest sports writer this state’s ever had, and Phillip is right there with him,” said former Auburn athletic director David Housel, who met Marshall as a Birmingham News intern when Phillip worked as a copy boy, an entry-level position.
“Phillip has always loved journalism,” Housel said. “He’s always loved telling a story. He had what we at Auburn call the human touch.”
That human touch, along Marshall’s curiosity and objectivity, allowed him to develop relationships with coaches and athletes, even when his stories contained critical analysis.
“He was so lovable, outgoing and gregarious, you couldn’t be mad at him very long,” Housel said. “He had a deep affection for Auburn, but he never let that affection stand in the way of giving you the facts as he saw them.”
“He was always compassionate but he called them like he saw them,” said Baird, whose professional association with Marshall grew to become a close friendship over the past quarter century following Baird’s retirement from coaching. “We talked about everything, on a weekly basis. He took time to develop relationships necessary to earn trust, and that takes time.”
“Phillip was an outstanding journalist who was extremely passionate about his job,” said senior associate AD/strategic communications Kirk Sampson. “He invested time to create relationships with the people he worked with and covered, and I think it’s one of many reasons that made Phillip so special. He was a friend but did not let that hinder his ability to do his job. I’ll miss the countless conversations we had and especially the good-natured ribbing we used to give each other.”