Marcus Nettles is a South Side Chicago native with an extensive background in baseball, mentoring, law enforcement, and fundraising. Nettles was raised in a structured middle-class household on the South Side of Chicago with his older sister, Jill Nettles. His Mother is a retired educator for the Chicago Public School system and his Father is a military veteran and retired law enforcement officer. Nettles played baseball throughout his childhood with the South Side Little League and Jackie Robinson West organizations. Nettles represented the United States at the Junior Pan Am games in 1993 and 1995 and won a silver and gold medal respectively.  Marcus attended Whitney Young High School and played 4 years of Varsity baseball under IHSBCA Hall of Fame coach, Chris Cassidy. Nettles was recognized by Baseball America as the fastest  and one of the Top 50 high school players in the nation.  His game changing speed, athletic ability, and outstanding play earned him a baseball scholarship to the University of Miami-FL where he won two National Championships.  In 2001, Nettles was drafted in the 11th round by the San Diego Padres and continued his baseball career at the professional level for 9 years.   

After almost a decade of playing professional baseball, Nettles transitioned into Law Enforcement and worked in several different specialized units.  In 2017, he founded The Marcus Nettles Project with the vision of providing resources and leveling the playing field for the underserved Chicago baseball community. Subsequently, Nettles kick started the Austin Youth Police Baseball League on Chicago's Westside, with the assistance of volunteer off duty police officers from the Chicago and Illinois State Police departments.  Due to lack of resources and manpower, the league was discontinued after two seasons.

 

 

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