WILLIAM MARSHALL OF UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS, a junior on the baseball team, has been selected the SCAC Character & Community Male Student Athlete-of-the-Week for the week beginning February 29, 2016.
The SCAC honors the efforts of student-athletes who excel in the field of athletics, and also serve their campus and community.
Marshall has been a member of the Crusaders’ pitching staff all three years, working in 26 career appearances. Currently, the native of Frisco, Texas, leads the team in games played this season with eight and thrown 14.1 innings to lead all relievers. He also picked up his first career save on Sunday.
Over the past four summers, Marshall has teamed up with his best friend Kyle Herridge to start and develop a Texas Wiffle Ball League (TWBL) in North Texas. As a startup league, the goal has always been to facilitate the game of Wiffle Ball to the DFW community in hopes of inspiring teamwork, competition, and stronger bonds between family and friends.
At the start of the league, 25 players participated and now that number has increased to 120 players and 18 teams. The age in players range from 12 to 60 years old. Games are played in a local neighborhood which has about two acres on each lot where the league builds their stadium each summer. All games are videoed, stats recorded and posted to league websites, and highlight reels are made for top plays of the week. There are eight local sponsors who support the funding for league uniforms, field, and equipment.
TWBL has been showcased on Fox 4 news for the success and development. This spring Ben Rogers will host them on the Ben and Skin radio talk show.
Aside from the success as a competitive Wiffle Ball League, TWBL has begun the process of getting involved with local elementary schools to promote the game. Last summer, TWBL hosted a Wiffle Ball camp at Curtsinger Elementary and spent three days teaching kids how to play. The goal this year is to host four to five elementary camps in the Frisco area.
This past fall, TWBL co-hosted a tournament fundraiser with the Society of Saint Joseph at the University of Dallas and had 200 people come out to play on Crusader Field and enjoy barbeque. 650 dollars were raised and donated to a school in Guatemala to help buy equipment for the new athletic department.
Marshall has a passion for teaching others. The right-handed pitcher began as a volunteer coach at the age of 16 and began to coach his own team at the age of 19. During the summer, Marshall continues guiding teams at the helm, leading two teams for the Texas Stallions at the 16u and 18u level. He travels with these teams around Texas and Oklahoma, playing in showcase tournaments to help get them recruited for college baseball.
In the fall, Marshall coaches six different baseball teams, and also serves as the Director of Fall Ball Operations at Centennial High School in his hometown. There, he coaches the freshman, junior varsity, and varsity teams and runs the team practices. Additionally, Marshall continues helping coach the 16u and 18u Texas Stallions fall teams to help prepare them for UIL spring baseball campaign.
Any spare time left, the junior works as the sponsorship coordinator for Middle School Matchup. This is a youth organization that hosts a tournament once a year to promote baseball in middle schools in the DFW area. Marshall also has taught lessons and coached for teams to help aid them improve pitching mechanics and mental side of the game.
Marshall is majoring in business and looks to go into professional baseball operations. His biggest goal is to be a manager or general manager.