Marshall Carpenter was born in February, 1928 in the same Alabama town of Tuscaloosa in which he still lives. He started going in to the poolrooms as a kid selling peanuts, which led to his nickname, ‘The Tuscaloosa Squirrel’. Gambling was deeply ingrained in that part of the South at the time, and Squirrel quickly took a liking to the action side of the game. Once it got to the point he could beat everybody locally, he began to travel.
Squirrel spent 25 years on the road, including time with Fats, Rags Fitzpatrick and of course Eddie Taylor. He and Taylor became good friends back in the mid-fifties. Squirrel and Taylor were two of the players that used to gather at the Jansco Brother’s club in Johnston City before they began to hold their famous tournaments. Squirrel won the One Pocket division at Johnston City in 1962, then fell second to Taylor in 1963.
After retiring from pool in favor of golf for many years, Squirrel is back to pool again, and he still enjoys getting into a little action.
Renowned for his masterful control of both cue ball and object balls, in his prime Squirrel is said to have had about the “prettiest touch” in pool .