James Marsalis (born October 10, 1945) is an American former professional football player who was a

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create turnove ...

for nine seasons in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL) and

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). He played college football at Tennessee A&I before playing professionally from 1969 through 1977. He helped the AFL's

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...

beat the defending league champion New York Jets in the first game of the 1969 AFL playoffs, making two interceptions off the Jets'

Joe Namath Joseph William Namath (; ; born May 31, 1943) is a former American football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New York Jets. He played college fo ...

. Following that, he started in the Fourth AFL-NFL World Championship Game for the Chiefs, defeating the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

in the last World Championship game played between the AFL and NFL champions. Marsalis was selected by

Pro Football Weekly ''Pro Football Weekly'' (sometimes shortened to ''PFW'') is an American sports magazine, founded in 1967, and website that covers the National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football leagu ...

as the 1969 AFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

References

1945 births Living people People from Pascagoula, Mississippi Players of American football from Mississippi American football cornerbacks Tennessee State Tigers football players Kansas City Chiefs players American Football League All-Star players American Conference Pro Bowl players New Orleans Saints players American Football League players {{defensiveback-1940s-stub