Center Willie Marshall was a talented playmaker who spent parts of four seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 50s. Apart from his brief NHL tenure he was a dangerous sniper as an amateur and the greatest scorer in the history of the American Hockey League.
Born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Marshall played junior in Toronto with the St. Michael's Majors and the Toronto Maple Leafs. After scoring 50 goals for the Charlottetown Islanders of the MMHL in 1951-52, he played two NHL games for the Maple Leafs the next season. More significantly he made his AHL debut by scoring 27 times for the Pittsburgh Hornets. Through the 1958-59 season Marshall was recalled a few times by Toronto but continued to torment AHL netminders.
During nearly two decades in the AHL Marshall topped the 20-goal mark 15 times and was the league's top point getter as a member of the Hershey Bears in 1958. He was named to the AHL first all-star team twice, the second unit once and played on four Calder Cup champions. Oddly enough, he only played ten games with the AHL's Rochester Americans during his final pro season in 1971-72. He spent the bulk of his time that year in the IHL with the Toledo Hornets. Still, he left the AHL as its all time leader in games played (1,205), goals (523), assists (852) and points (1,375).
