Joe Morrison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Joe Morrison | |
|---|---|
| Date of birth: | August 21, 1937 |
| Place of birth: |  Lima, Ohio |
| Date of death: | February 5, 1989 |
| Place of death: | Columbia, South Carolina |
| Career information | |
| Position(s): | Running back Wide Receiver |
| College: | Cincinnati |
| NFL Draft: | 1959 / Round: 3 / Pick 34 |
| Organizations | |
| As player: | |
| 1959-1972 | New York Giants |
| Stats at DatabaseFootball.com | |
| Joe Morrison | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sport | Football | |
| Born | August 21, 1937 | |
| Place of birth | Lima, Ohio | |
| Career highlights | ||
| Coaching stats | ||
| College Football DataWarehouse | ||
| Awards | ||
| National Coach of the Year (1984) | ||
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 1973-1979 1980-1982 1983-1988 |
Tennessee-Chattanooga New Mexico South Carolina |
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Joe Morrison (August 21, 1937 – February 5, 1989) was a National Football League football player who played for the New York Giants and an American football coach best known as the head coach at the University of South Carolina.
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[edit] Giants' career
Joe Morrison was born in Lima, Ohio. After attending the University of Cincinnati, he was drafted by the Giants, where he played at the positions of running back and wide receiver. He had a long career with the Giants, playing from 1959 to 1972. He holds the Giants' team record for receptions, with 395 catches, from seven different quarterbacks; over his career his plays gained 4,993 yards. Morrison was known as "Old Dependable" because of his willingness and ability to play any position he was asked to play. His jersey number (#40) has been retired by the Giants.
Morrison's best individual season as a receiver came in 1966 when the Giants won only one game. He caught 46 passes for 724 yards and scored six touchdowns. While the Giants fell on hard times, Morrison was one of the bright stars on the team. He also had five seasons of forty receptions or more between 1964 and 1971.
[edit] Life After The Giants
Joe Morrison was a head coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, University of New Mexico, and University of South Carolina. He is one of the few major college head coaches to never work as an assistant coach.
Other than his NFL years, he is best remembered as the head coach at South Carolina, and is still often regarded as the greatest coach in the program's history, despite only serving six years in that position before his death. Morrison took the Gamecocks to three postseason games (1984 and 1987 Gator Bowl and the 1988 Liberty Bowl). It was under Morrison in 1983 that South Carolina began the tradition of Also Sprach Zarathustra (theme from "2001: A Space Odyssey") as its pre-game anthem and team entrance. This entrance is now regarded by sport networks, commentators, and college football fans as one of the great traditions in college football.
The 1984 campaign was affectionately dubbed the "Black Magic" year because of the team's success and because of Morrison's famous all black attire (cap, shirt, pants, shoes). The program ran a streak of nine consecutive wins (longest single season streak in school history) and was ranked #2 in the nation before falling to Navy and later falling to Oklahoma State in the Gator Bowl. Gaining victories against storied programs such as Georgia, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Florida State, as well as a regular season win against arch-rival Clemson, the Gamecocks finished that season with a school best 10-2 record. Morrison was named by the Walter Camp Foundation as the 1984 National College Football Coach of the Year. Morrison would also be named the Southern Independent Coach of the year in 1987 (despite Jimmy Johnson's Miami, FL University team winning the national championship that year). The 1984 squad also heralded two first team All-American players in James Seawright (linebacker) and Del Wilkes (offensive lineman), as well as future NFL players Sterling Sharpe (1984-1987), and Brad Edwards (1984-1987).
Other notable players coached by Morrison included Harold Green, who spent several years with the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL, current Gamecock football radio broadcaster Todd Ellis, who is the all-time passing leader at South Carolina, and Robert Brooks, who was part of the Green Bay Packers 1997 Super Bowl Championship team. During the time, Charlie Weis, current Notre Dame head football coach, was an assistant coach under Morrison, his first coaching job in the college ranks. Also serving as an assistant during Morrison's tenure was Al Groh, who went on to be head coach of the New York Jets and currently is the head coach at the University of Virginia.
After the 1988 season, which was the school's second consecutive winning season (the school has never had more than two consecutive postseason appearances), expectations were high for the 1989 season. Tragically, it would not come as Morrison died in February 1989 at age 51 from congestive heart failure after playing racquetball.
Morrison came to USC after a few seasons with the Lobos of the University of New Mexico. He was a hot prospect, having gone 10-1 in 1982. Reports said he was upset the Lobos did not receive a bowl invitation.
Morrison's record at USC: 1983 5-6 1984 10-2 1985 5-6 1986 3-6-2 1987 8-4 1988 8-4
Morrison won his 100th game as a coach in 1988, when he beat N.C. State 23-7.
[edit] Morrison's Traditions at South Carolina
Morrison's legacy still is in place at the University of South Carolina in various ways: the football team still has black jerseys as part of their uniform options (Morrison began the use of black jerseys as a uniform option and used them as the team's primary home jerseys during the 1987 * 1988 seasons); pre-game "2001: A Space Odyssey" anthem, which has also spread to other athletic events and other university functions such as graduations; his 1984 recognition as national coach of the year is posted in South Carolina's Williams-Brice Stadium; one outstanding football player from spring practice on both offense and defense are awarded the "Joe Morrison Award" each year.
[edit] Sources
[edit] References
- New York Giants: Skill Positions at The Sporting News
- New York Giants at Sports Encyclopedia
- [1] at Pro Football Reference
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This biographical article relating to an American football running back born in the 1930s is a stub. You can help by adding to it. |
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This biographical article relating to an American football coach is a stub. You can help by adding to it. |
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This biographical article relating to a college football coach first appointed in the 1970s is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
| Preceded by Mike White |
Walter Camp Coach of the Year 1984 |
Succeeded by Fisher DeBerry |
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