NEED TO KNOW
- NFL legend Marshall Faulk said he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease
- The Pro Football Hall of Famer said in a Wednesday, Oct. 21 podcast interview that he was diagnosed after noticing “rigidity” in his hand while playing golf
- The 53-year-old, who is now coaching Southern University’s football team, said anyone who thinks they may have symptoms of the disease should tell their doctor and get tested
Marshall Faulk said he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer, 53, shared the news with The Caring Neurologist host Dr. Sandeep Thakkar on Wednesday, Oct. 21. Faulk said he has been dealing with the disease for about a year and a half and has not been experiencing symptoms beyond hand rigidity and “little tremors” so far.
Faulk was diagnosed after noticing “rigidity” in his hand while playing golf. When the symptoms kept showing even when he wasn’t holding a golf club, Faulk decided he had to tell his doctor during a physical. His doctor immediately suggested that he get it checked by a specialist.
Faulk, who admitted to being “anal” about his health, said he wasn’t playing around.
“You tell me that and I’m going, like, I believe in going to the doctor,” the Southern University football coach told Thakkar.
The former running back said he doesn’t see Parkinson’s as “terminal,” recalling how he met Muhammad Ali after the boxing legend was diagnosed with the disease and seeing how Ali was “all there.” He also brought up actor 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.”
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Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting movement, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation. Its cause remains unknown and there is no cure.
Faulk hopes that by sharing his story, more people are encouraged to get checked by a trained specialist when they have concerns.
“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.
Later in his discussion with Thakkar, Faulk said he hasn’t “really had the conversation” with his friends and family about his diagnosis, but he will “if it comes to a time where my lifestyle changes.”
Credit: Sports Illustrated via Getty
“I’m functioning. I’m good. You know, I just think I caught it early,” he said. “I’m in a good place.”
Faulk, who won a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams in 2000 and retired from the NFL in 2007, was hired as head football coach at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La. in December 2025. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame during his first year of eligibility in 2011.
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