In 1919, Ma traveled to the United States to earn his BA from Springfield College.
[2] After graduating in 1920, he returned to China and was promoted to director of physical education, a position he held for the next nine years.
He coached the Tsinghua University soccer team to victory in the North China Championship.
From 1931 to 1932, he was the physical education director at Soochow University, and in 1934 he returned to his old position at Tsinghua College.
His second daughter, Ma Peilun, married Mou Zuoyun, a pioneer of basketball in China.