Background
Marshall was born in Kalgoorlie, the same town as another legend of the game, Walter Lindrum.
Marshall was born in Kalgoorlie, the same town as another legend of the game, Walter Lindrum.
Throughout his career he was compared favourably with Lindrum who, in 1954, himself declared that Marshall was one of the greatest amateur players he had ever seen. Ten years later, the contemporary English snooker professional Fred Davis said of Marshall, "Most noticeable about his style is his compactness, so like Walter Lindrum, and the shortness of his back-swing, hardly more than a couple of inches." Marshall dominated amateur billiards before and after the war with a career that spanned six decades, broken by retirements in 1963 and 1970 followed by come-backs. Marshall"s first job was as a hairdresser, and he later opened a successful dry-cleaning outlet.
During World World War II, he spent four years in the Royal Australian Air Force.
This record remained unbeaten until 1984 when Subhash Agarwal compiled a 716 break. He took another World 2nd place in 1954.
In 1962 Marshall was invited to India to compete in the national billiards and snooker titles. His best break was 1,056 which he made in practice in 49 minutes.
In the 1953 Australian championships he made a break of 702 in 37 minutes.
He twice recorded seven breaks of 100 or more in a two-hour session and in the 1938 World Championship final in Melbourne, made a break of 335 in just over 15 minutes. He used "top-of-the-table" techniques for his break-building, and all of his records were made under the "two-pot rule". Other records by Marshall which still stand under the two-pot limitation include: the highest aggregate in two hours play (1,876), four hours (3,391), and a two-hour session average of 118.7.
His best break was 139.
In 1963 he was named Western Australian Sportsman of the Year, and in 1980 was awarded the Order of Australia (OAM). He was inducted into the Western Australian Hall of Champions in 1985. Since his death at the age of 93, the memorial Bob Marshall Medal is awarded each year by the Australian Billiards & Council. His biography My Life and Times was written with Cyril Ayris and Ross Haig.
In 1969 he made a comeback for a series of exhibition matches against New Zealand professional Clark McConachy and regained his Australian title the same year, defending it successfully in 1970 before retiring once again.
