Marshall Faulk’s Parkinson’s journey: How the NFL legend found a new purpose

Marshall Faulk has Parkinson's disease, and he has known for about a year and a half. The Pro Football Hall of Famer, 53, shared the diagnosis with Dr. Sandeep Thakkar, host of The Caring Neurologist, on Wednesday, Oct. 21. Faulk, now head football coach at Southern University, says his symptoms have stayed mild so far, limited to hand rigidity and what he calls "little tremors." He wants other people to get checked early if something feels off.

How Marshall Faulk found out about his Parkinson's diagnosis

It started on a golf course. Faulk felt rigidity in his hand while playing and figured the club might be to blame. Then it kept happening when he wasn't holding one. He brought it up with his doctor during a physical. The doctor didn't wait around and sent him to a specialist right away. Faulk says he is "anal" about his health, so he had no interest in putting it off. "You tell me that and I'm going, like, I believe in going to the doctor," Faulk told Thakkar. Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects movement, according to the Parkinson's Foundation. Its cause is unknown, and there is no cure. Faulk doesn't see his diagnosis as terminal, and two people shaped that view. He met Muhammad Ali after Ali was diagnosed and came away struck by how "all there" the boxing great still was. He also pointed to Michael J. Fox, who has lived with Parkinson's since 1991. "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."

"It's something you live with," Faulk continued. "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."

Why Marshall Faulk wants others to get checked early

Faulk says he is speaking up for a simple reason. He hopes people who notice something odd in their own bodies will see a trained specialist instead of waiting.

"The earlier you catch it, the better chance you have at living a better quality of life with medication compared to if you catch it later, the things that you start to have, the things that you go through, it makes life a little bit more difficult," Faulk said. He feels he is in a solid spot right now. He hasn't yet had a full conversation with friends and family about the diagnosis. That will come, he said, "если it comes to a time where my lifestyle changes."

"I'm functioning. I'm good. You know, I just think I caught it early," he said. "I'm in a good place." Faulk has plenty on his plate. He won a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams in 2000 and retired from the NFL in 2007. He entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011, his first year of eligibility. Southern University hired him as head football coach in Baton Rouge, La., in December 2025, so he is dealing with the diagnosis while running a program.