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Super Bowl champion Marshall Faulk says he is living with Parkinson's disease
By Chantz Martin
Published October 22, 2026
Super Bowl champion and Southern University football coach Marshall Faulk is facing a personal battle off the field. The Pro Football Hall of Famer announced Wednesday that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Faulk, 53, said during an appearance on "The Caring Neurologist" podcast that medication has helped limit his symptoms to hand rigidity. He added that he believes the rigidity has not worsened during the year and a half he has been dealing with the disease because of his treatment. Faulk also said he has experienced "little tremors."
Faulk told host Dr. Sandeep Thakkar that he hopes speaking publicly about his diagnosis will help others. "I want to help as many people as I can," he said.
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Southern University football coach Marshall Faulk talks with quarterback Christian Johnson (10) during a game against the Jackson State Tigers at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium on Sept. 26, 2026, in Jackson, Miss. (Aron Smith/Jackson State University via Getty Images)
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Faulk initially dismissed the hand rigidity he experienced while golfing as normal nerves but grew concerned when it continued even when he was not competing.
"I just thought it was normal nerves when putting and stuff like that," he said. "But it started to be times where ... I was playing, but I wasn't in a match, and it would still do that. And I was like, 'Wow, is that something -- is that normal?' And the doctor was -- he literally was like, 'You need to go get checked.'"
Southern head coach Marshall Faulk watches from the sideline during the game against Jackson State at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, Mississippi, on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
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Faulk’s outlook was shaped in part by a dinner with Muhammad Ali, who also had Parkinson’s. He left that interaction thinking, "He’s all there," and said the diagnosis did not make him believe his life was over.
"So, knowing that, I didn't look at it like if I got a diagnosis, life was going to end," Faulk said. "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."
Marshall Faulk looks on from the 18th green during the first round of the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational 2026 at The Old Course at Broken Sound on March 6, 2026, in Boca Raton, Fla. (Raj Mehta/Getty Images)
Faulk was selected No. 2 overall by the Indianapolis Colts in the 1994 NFL Draft. The standout running back spent his first five NFL seasons in Indianapolis before joining the St. Louis Rams, where he played a key role in the team’s Super Bowl run during the 1999 season. Faulk was named NFL MVP the following year.
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Faulk last played in an NFL game in 2005. He is a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Faulk was named Southern University’s head coach in November 2025 after serving as Colorado’s running backs coach under Deion Sanders earlier that year. Southern is 3-4 so far in Faulk's debut season.
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