Bo Marsh introduced his son, Doug, to the game of football when he was eight years old.

“I’d never throw it where he could catch it,” recalled Bo in a 1980 interview with the John Sonderreger of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. “I’d throw it high or low and he’d ask me if that’s the best I could throw. I’d ask him if that’s the best he could catch. I told him anybody can catch it when it’s on the numbers.”

“He’s a football fan—period,” Doug said of his father. “He never pushed me into the game; he just asked me if I wanted to play. You know, a father wanting to get closer to his son.”

The young Marsh would later become a high school All-American at Akron East High, playing both tight end and defensive end. He was recruited as a linebacker by Ohio State’s Woody Hayes, but Doug wanted to play offense.

Enter the University of Michigan. Marsh signed with the Wolverines, where he played tight end from 1976 to 1979. He was named first-team All-Big Ten and third-team All-American after leading the team in receiving in his senior season with 33 receptions for 612 yards.

Bo Marsh bought a motorhome after Doug enrolled in Michigan, and the family only missed five games over the course of four years.

“We’ve followed Doug all along,” Bo said. “We’ve always been sort of sports chasers anyway and we always took the kids with us.”

Doug’s numbers at Michigan caught the attention of the St. Louis Cardinals, who had been trying to fill a hole at tight end since the retirement of Hall of Famer Jackie Smith and the sudden death of J.V. Cain.

DRAFTED

The Big Red selected the 6-foot-3, 235-pounder in the 2nd round (33rd overall) of the 1980 NFL draft.

“Yes, I’m pretty well aware of the tight end situation here,” said Marsh, referring to the fact that the team had employed 10 different players at the position the previous two seasons.

“In my senior year,” he said, “I followed all the teams who needed tight ends pretty closely. I knew the Cardinals were one of them.”

“First of all,” he said, I know I have some big shoes to fill. I know about Jackie Smith and J.V. Cain. I know that a lot of people will be watching me. But pressure is what the game of football is all about.”

“I have two major qualities that they need here from a tight end. I can run and I can catch. The one thing I would like to improve on is my blocking.”

“There are things he’s got to learn,” head coach Jim Hanifan said, “but I think he’ll snap them babies up like a duck takes to water.”

Playing in Missouri didn’t stop Bo Marsh and his family from visiting Doug. They loaded up the motorhome and headed west to Lindenwood College in St. Charles, MO, for Big Red training camp.

“The closer we got to this place, the more excited we got,” the elder Marsh said.

For two weeks, the motorhome was parked under an elm tree on a Lindenwood parking lot overlooking the football field. Bo never missed a practice.

“I couldn’t ask for a better setup,” he said.

“It was hard for him to believe,” Doug said of his father. “He wouldn’t believe it until he actually saw me down on the field with the Cardinals. I guess he’s satisfied now.”

The Cardinals were hoping to bring the rookie along slowly, but an injury to Gary Parris put the Ohio native on the fast track.

Marsh caught 6 passes for 61 yards during the preseason with a touchdown and impressed the coaching staff.

“He’s got an attitude that you can’t teach,” Hanifan told the St. Louis Post Dispatch. “He’s self-motivated and wants to be as good as he can be. He’s going to end up being one of the better blocking tight ends in the league. He has good size, coupled with good speed and fine hands.”

OFF TO A QUICK START

Marsh started the season off with a bang. He caught nine passes for 116 yards and scored two touchdowns in his first two NFL games. He finished the season with 22 receptions for 269 yards and four touchdowns.

In a 1980 interview with The Michigan Daily, Marsh reflected on his first year as a professional and how it differed from his college experience.

“The two biggest differences between college ball and the pros have been learning to handle the pressures of being a rookie, and adjusting to the different type of defense.”

He also discussed the differences in training camps.

“The Cardinals’ training camp was most definitely harder than Michigan’s,” he said. “We went six weeks and had two practices a day in comparison to only two weeks in college. Even though it was harder, it was good because it really got me ready for the upcoming season.”

“It’s a slow process before they (the veterans) accept you. They make it very hard on the rookies. You have to show them that you can fulfill the team’s needs. Once you’ve shown them that you can play, they tend to accept you. It just takes a while.”

Marsh started all sixteen games in his rookie season. Injuries cost him most of the 1981 season, but he missed only one more game the rest of his career.

Marsh scored eight touchdowns in 1983 and had his best year in the Cardinals’ high-flying offense during the 1984 season when he caught 39 passes for 608 yards and five touchdowns.

Marsh gave a lot of the credit to wide receiver coach Emmitt Thomas.

“He keeps me moving in the right direction. When things aren’t going my way, he always finds another approach to make the situation seem a whole lot better.”

“When he’s one-on-one with a linebacker, he has the athletic ability to make a move and get open,” quarterback Neil Lomax said about his favorite tight end.

Like all receivers, Marsh wouldn’t have minded having the ball thrown his way a bit more often, but he realized who the top receiver on the team was.

“I like watching Roy Green catch the ball,” Marsh told the St. Louis Post Dispatch. “I kind of like watching that show.”

In 1985, Marsh caught 37 passes, but was phased out of the offense in 1986 and only had 25 receptions. The Cardinals released him the following summer.

“It’s the best thing that could have happened to me,” Marsh said after his release, “because it was becoming apparent that my days were numbered here.”

The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported that Marsh had been privately bitter for much of the previous two seasons over his lack of involvement in the passing game.

“I felt like the last couple of years that I was between a rock and a hard place with the Cardinals,” said Marsh. “I’m just hoping now to get with a team that will better utilize my talents.”

Marsh ended his St. Louis career with 167 receptions for 2,140 yards and scored 19 touchdowns.

After his release, Marsh had a cup of coffee with the Atlanta Falcons and the Indianapolis Colts, but did not play in any regular-season games.

Check out Doug’s career numbers below, courtesy of Pro Football Reference: