Bob Hartley (1998) - Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame

Bob Hartley

Induction:
1998
Class:
1949

An undersized back even at Ravenswood (W.Va.) High School, Bob Hartley made himself a force at Marshall for football Coach Cam Henderson even though he only grew to 5-feet-9 and 165 pounds in college. What he lacked in size, Hartley made up for with quickness, skill and heart as he stood out on offense, defense and special teams. Hartley's skills were put to use by Coach Cam Henderson in many ways, and several games were swayed when Hartley lined up at halfback, took a pitch and then punted on third down, with the “quick kicks” catching the opponents off guard and pinning them deep in their own territory.

As a sophomore in 1947, Hartley scored six touchdowns, helping Marshall to a 9-2 regular-season record and the school’s first bowl invitation, to take on Catawba College at the Tangerine Bowl on New Year’s Day, a game Marshall lost to the Indians 7-0. Hartley led the Thundering Herd in rushing, passing and punting the following season and then to a 6-4 record in Henderson’s final year as Marshall’s football coach in 1949.

As a senior on the 1949 team, Hartley led Marshall by scoring 71 points -- rushing for seven touchdowns, catching one touchdown pass, and kicking two field goals and 17 extra points. He also led the team by averaging 44.05 yards per punt. Hartley scored every Marshall point during a 20-7 win at Tennessee Tech by converting on two rushing TDs (covering 45 yards and 1 yard), catching a 21-yard TD pass from fellow Hall of Famer Chuck Fieldson, and making two of his three PAT attempts. Later that season he tallied a 63-yard touchdown run to spark a 34-0 win over Milligan College in what would prove to be Marshall's last football win under Henderson.

In the season finale against a much bigger, stronger and heavily favored Xavier team, Hartley pinned the Musketeers near their own goal line with two separate 56-yard quick kicks to keep Marshall in the game. Ultimately, a Hartley rush was stopped by the Musketeers less than one foot from the goal line on a fourth-down play with under two minutes remaining in the game as Xavier held on to win 13-7. It Henderson’s last game as Marshall’s football coach and also the first Marshall game to be televised, broadcast on fledgling Huntington station WSAZ.

Hartley became a football coach himself and took Vinson High School to West Virginia Class B state championships in 1951 and 1952. He was inducted into the Mid-Ohio Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Big Green room in the Cam Henderson Center is named in Hartley’s honor. Hartley was inducted into the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998.