2017 Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame Inductee: Shameka Marshall

Editor’s note: This continues a series in which we will profile every inductee of the Rutgers 2017 Hall of Fame class.

The Rutgers women’s track team could sure use the next Shameka Marshall to walk through it’s doors soon. Attending Oakcrest High School, she won the 2001 New Jersey State Meet of Champions title in long jump and triple jump. Marshall self-admittedly hated track, but had three scholarship offers. With her mother’s guidance she decided to accept one of them, lucky for Scarlet Knights fans, it was RU.

Career at Rutgers

Only five foot two inches tall, world record holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee is 5 foot ten, Marshall beat the odds to become a two-time All-American. A key tactic she employed was utilizing superior music major listening skills to hearing the sound of her own footsteps to ensure her strides were right. She qualified for the Olympic trials as a sophomore on the banks, the first Scarlet Knight to do so since 1988.

Accolades started rolling in as a junior when Shameka was named Mid-Atlantic Athlete of the Year in 2005 after earning the 2005 NCAA East Regional long jump title. She was even better as a senior, finishing as the national indoor runner-up in the event in 2006. The 2006 ECAC Outstanding Athlete in Indoor and Outdoor Track was one of the top 15 in the world rankings in the long jump.

Statistically, Marshall won 8 Big East titles qualifying for the NCAA in the long jump all four years, recognized as team MVP each time. She was the 2007 USATF-NJ Open Women’s Athlete of the Year, and was two-time ECAC top performer. Six of her school records still stand: indoor long jump, 55m, 55m hurdles, 60m hurdles; outdoor long jump, 100m hurdles.

Titles:

ECAC: long jump, 60m hurdles and 100m hurdles.

Big East: long jump, 60m hurdles, 100m hurdles, 4x100m relay team.

Professional Career

After graduating from RU in 2006, she embarked on a professional track career. She continued training at Rutgers and also served as a volunteer coach. In ‘05, ‘06 and ‘07 Marshall finished in 6th place at the U.S. nationals setting her up for a run at the Olympics. At the 2008 Olympic trials, she missed qualifying for the trip to Beijing by a mere 6.5 inches.

She continued to get better on the quest for a shot at the London games four years later. Along the way, her career highlight is the 2011 Pan-American games in Mexico, earning a silver medal with a 22’1” jump far surpassing her 7th place Pan-Am finish in Rio four years earlier. She seemed primed for the 2012 Olympic trials. CSN Philly had a nice piece about her in advance of the event, but she finished in 8th place in the finals.

She was inducted into the South Jersey Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2013.

After her playing days

In 2008, Marshall joined the Temple University staff as a men’s assistant track and field coach for the jumping events when she paused her pursuit of becoming a music teacher. Temple cut Men’s Track and Field in 2014, but she stayed on as an assistant coach for the women’s squad through the 2016 season. Marshall served as an adjunct professor in the Kinesiology Department at the school as well.

Shameka once sang the National Anthem at a Temple volleyball match. According to her linkedin profile, she now resides in New Castle, Delaware, focused on singing and songwriting with some occasional coaching perhaps. She even got to participate on the TV show Family Feud!

Congrats Shameka!

Previous Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame 2017 Inductees Covered:

Ray Lucas