Troy University Athletics
Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2017
When it came to Bubba Marriott, there was only one issue his teammates had with him.
“The main problem with Bubba was that he threw the ball so hard, a lot of his receivers couldn’t catch it,” former Trojan football player Mike Amos said. “He had quite the strong arm.”
That arm helped Marriott be inducted into the Troy University Sports Hall of Fame as one of the first star quarterbacks in the prestigious history of Trojan football.
The Foley, Ala., native, like many of his Troy peers of the time, was a multi-sport athlete who was named one of the first All-Americans in the school’s history when he was tabbed to the Associated Press’ Little All-American Team his senior year.
The accolades didn’t stop there as he also garnered All-Alabama Collegiate Conference honors that season. It’s not hard to wonder why as his hard-throwing style made him one of the most recognizable quarterbacks in Alabama at the time.
It didn’t take long for the quarterback’s career to get going, as just four games into his tenure as a Trojan he was tabbed as the starting man behind center. He would go on to start 31 games as quarterback of Troy from 1957-1960.
Marriott’s 62 pass attempts against Samford during the 1960 season—at a time when running the ball was still the primary means of offense-- was a Troy record that stood for more than 50 years.
“He was a solid athlete and a superb leader,” Amos said. “The guys who played with him will all tell you that Bubba is a Hall of Famer. They would be the first guys to say something if he wasn’t.”
Amos credits Marriott for being the glue that held the team together during lean years at the end of the 1950s. His strength as a quarterback and leadership propelled him to be the focal point of those teams.
His success on the football field and his talented arm led him to be one of the best members of the Trojan baseball team at the time. Marriott holds the still-standing record of 13 innings pitched against Southern Union in the 1958 season.
Upon his graduation from Troy in 1960, his football career continued as he spent two years on the taxi squad with the New York Giants in 1961 and 1962.
Bubba—whose real name is Francis—also spent a season with the Montreal Aloquettes where he notched the first touchdown of his professional career during the 1963 season.
His years of experience in the football world made for a seamless transition into the coaching ranks after his playing career had ended. Marriott remained in Canada and moved to Toronto to become a player and assistant coach in the Continental League until 1967.
Marriott, who was inducted into the Foley High School Hall of Fame in 1984, stayed in coaching and won a national championship in 1967 and won six Ontario championships in eight years before retiring with an 82-12 record.
With athletics behind him, Marriott began to transition into the next stage of his life. He became a successful businessman in serving as the vice president of industrial development for the Toronto Development Company for nine years before opening up his own real estate business.
Marriott will be joined in this year’s Hall of Fame class by teammate Frank Sadler as the duo played together on the late 1950’s teams for Troy.
