The retirement of Charles Marshall, Jeppe's full-time cricket coach in 1960, was regarded as the end of an era that had begun 30 years before when he had come to Jeppe as a cricket professional from England. He was remembered by the school for his many Homeric battles with other schools, particularly with our old rivals, KES. By the time of his retirement he was viewed as the resident guardian angel of Jeppe's good fortune on the cricket field, upon which he could usually be seen leaning at a perilous angle on his shooting stick, and if that was not available, miraculously supporting himself at the same angle on thin air. When he did raise his finger, indicating the batsman's dismissal, it was not done casually, quickly, or even sympathetically, but with a certain slow majesty which seemed horribly final to the unfortunate batsman. An anecdote is recounted in one school magazine of a certain match in which some unjustified remarks had been made about Charles' integrity.  A Jeppe supporter had said, "Never mind, Charles will have the last word," and he did. With the opponent's last man at the wicket and nine runs still needed for victory, the batsman was struck on his pads in front of the wickets. Slowly Charles had lifted his finger in a regal decision which even the 'enemy' supporters had to endorse as fair.

 

Many great cricketers passed through Charles Marshall's hands, and he established for Jeppe a fine record and high standing amongst South African schools. His experience and expertise extended to his work as chief architect of the Jeppe wicket, which never completely favoured the batsmen; and he was viewed as a genuine craftsman when it came to fixing cricket bats. As a coach he was a great believer in a firmly hit ball, but was of the strong opinion that, while batsmen might 'save' matches, bowlers 'won' them. So, unlike many coaches who concentrate almost entirely on the batsmen, Charles was remembered especially as a bowling coach who set the standard for all Jeppe coaches to come.