NFL Legend Marshall Faulk Announces Parkinson’s Disease Diagnosis in Emotional Revelation
from Essentially Sports in the NFL
When it comes to Marshal Faulk, there are enough heroic moments. In 2003, he finished with 108 rushing yards on 17 carries and three touchdowns in the St. Louis Rams’ dominant 48-17 win against the Minnesota Vikings. His scoring runs covered 18, 5, and 7 yards. It’s the same legend who is now fighting Parkinson’s disease.
According to Parkinson’s Foundation, an estimated 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with Parkinson’s disease. But no matter how common it has now become, it’s still tough news to deal with. Pro Football Hall of Fame running back and Southern University football head coach at 53 has announced that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, the progressive neurodegenerative disorder of the nervous system. It does not have a cure as such. However, Faulk has accepted his fate and now focuses on the treatment.
“I didn’t look at it like, you know, if I got a diagnosis, it was something bad that I was, you know, life was going to end,” he shared on the Caring Neurologist podcast with Dr. Sandeep Thakkar. “I treat it like I’ve had a bunch of surgeries on my right knee. There’s some parts in it that aren’t mine, that aren’t original. My back, you know, it hurts every once in a while. It’s something you live with. It’s not to where it’s a detriment to your livelihood.
“Now, if you don’t take care of it, there’s an opportunity for that to be, but you have to take care of it.”
For Faulk, the symptoms first showed up while he was playing golf, per Toyloy Brown III of The Advocate.
“The rigidity in my hand, just sometimes after I play a lot or I practice a lot,” he said. “I just thought it was, you know, normal nerves when putting and stuff like that.”
However, he considers himself to be lucky that the symptoms showed up early and he could get himself tested. After the treatment, he is now getting better sleep. The condition itself is not causing much trouble to Faulk as of now.
“The little tremors that I get, you know, they are what they are,” he said in the podcast. “I just pay attention to my gait, you know, while I walk, when I’m working out, my ability to balance. It’s still where it is.”
Parkinson’s disease is one of the neurodegenerative conditions linked to concerns about the long-term effects of playing football. A study released earlier this year found that NFL players had nearly four times the risk of dying from the neurodegenerative disease as the average person.
Research by Jesse Mez, senior coauthor of the latest study and codirector of clinical research at BU’s CTE Center, found that players with more than five NFL seasons had double the neurodegenerative disease mortality risk of those whose careers lasted one to four seasons.
Parkinson’s is a brutal test for a player as iconic as Faulk. This is the same man who, in his NFL debut, rushed for an impressive 143 rushing yards and scored three touchdowns. After an impressive stint with the Colts, he went on to play with the Rams, becoming an anchor of the Greatest Show on Turf.
On Dec. 10, 2000, the Rams took on the Minnesota Vikings in a game that saw a standout effort from Marshall Faulk. He responded with four rushing touchdowns.
Besides this, no other NFL player has surpassed both 12,000 rushing yards and 6,000 receiving yards other than Faulk. Faulk also became the second player to post 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season.
“He was a highlight waiting to happen,” Kurt Warner told The Athletic of Marshall. “He could do everything. Mentally, he was the sharpest player that I’ve ever been around.”
Faulk told the publication in 2025 about some sound advice he’d gotten from his father. “If you are ever traveling on a road and there are no speed bumps, you are headed for a dead end,” Faulk said. The RB failed to make the All-Metro team in high school, but went on to create history in the NFL.
“Life is a challenge. God gave me talent. Football gave me an opportunity. I made the commitment,” he added.
Perhaps that advice will also come in handy as he navigates this tough battle.
Other Former NFL Stars Have Spoken About Living With Parkinson’s
Faulk’s Parkinson’s disease diagnosis added him to another group of greats. His revelation came just months after the Green Bay Packers’ all-time rushing leader, Ahman Green, revealed that he is living with Parkinson’s disease.
“I had a little bit of the feet twitching when I’m in my sleep and stuff like that,” Green said on the Go Long with Tyler Dunne. “I mean, I knew something was going on long before that. I just got a hold of some doctors [and] was able to get in contact with and get the diagnostics, get the testing, and finally got it tested.”
Green remains the Packers’ record holder for career rushing yards, with 8,322, as well as single-season rushing yards, with 1,883 in 2003. Besides Green, among the other legends who are still living with Parkinson’s are Brett Favre and Bernie Kosar.
Favre told TMZ that he spoke with five specialists, all of whom said the same thing. “If [Parkinson’s is] not in your family — and there’s none on either side of my family — then the first thing we look at is head trauma.” The iconic QB then added, “Well, hell. I wrote the book on head trauma.”
Faulk’s diagnosis casts yet another harsh light on the risk of head trauma in football and its long-term effects. Neurodegenerative diseases have affected some really good players, which continues to pose questions to the league about player safety.