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“
A. B. orri -fman ofthe
centur in ACU athletics'
All great men have their day.
- For Asbury Bratten Morris,
0, 1982, was his day.
A. B. Morris has served the
thletic department for 58 years as
oach of all sports, as athletic directo
April
ACU
head
r and
n helping raise funds through the develop-
nentoffice.
However, Coach Morris'
HC-
omplishments cannot be measured in his
oaching skills or how well he can in-
luence donors.
His accomplishments are greater
than
caching a young man how to shoot a
iasketball, how to tackle a running back or
.ow to turn a double play.
Coach Morris has taught young athletes
ow to play the game of life.
On April 10, many of those athletes A
.ow successful career men -
and
members of the ACU family gathered at a
-100-a-plate dinner to honor Morris a
nd to
et up the A. B. Morris Endowed Coaching
lcholarship to continue the training of
Ihristian coaches and teachers.
In conjunction with the appreci
inner, Abilene Mayor Elbert
ation
Hall
eclared April 10 "A. B. and Rebecca
florris Appreciation Day."
Chancellor John C. Stevens read the
roclamation at the dinner and presented
florris with a copy of the proclamation.
Morris was born Friday, April 13,
1 DeSoto. By the time he graduated
igh school in Wheatland, friends
oaches knew that the scrappy little
is was going to be a great athlete.
1900,
from
and
Mor-
I' hey were so impressed they persuaded
Morris to enter Texas A8cM, where
e was destined to become an athletic
:gend as a shortstop and a quarterback.
Before Morris graduated from A8c
Min
923 with a bachelor's degree in
griculture, he earned all-Southwest
Con-
erence honors in baseball and as quarter-
ack, led the Aggies to victory in the
first
lpposite page: Coach A. B. Morris at-
ands a reception in honor ofA CU em
lorris has been associated with
niversity since 1923.
eriti.
the
Cotton Bowl game.
Once the A 8: M yearbook referred to
him as "the boy with the million-dollar
toe" in respect for his place kicking
abilities.
After coaching and teaching on the high
school level for a year, Morris came to
ACU in 1924 at the invitation of ACU
President Batsell Baxter. He brought one
assistant coach, Guy Scruggs, with him,
and together they began to build ACU's
athletic department to national recogni-
tion.
Times were hard and sometimes even
finding transportation to scheduled games
was difficult, but Morris never quit, a fact
his athletes took to heart.
M orris coached football at ACU for 18
years before stepping down to con-
centrate on baseball and basketball. In
1955 he retired from coaching completely
to concentrate on the duties of athletic
director, a position he kept until 1969.
Morris is now in charge of the A. B.
Morris Athletic Fund, the name given to
the fund after he began his work as
athletic director emeritus.
At the dinner, Wally Bullington,
athletic director, said one of his biggest
concerns about the future of ACU was to
keep producing coaches with "A. B. Mor-
ris traits."
Thus the idea of the A. B. Morris En-
dowed Coaching Scholarship was created,
and before the banquet began, nearly
560,000 had been collected for the fund
surpassing the initial goal of 550,000
President William J. Teague said
anyone involved with ACU will remember
Morris "fondly, happily and because his
influence will always be with us."
S everal times during the evening Morris'
ex-athletes paid tribute to the man
known to them as "Coach":
0 Oliver Jackson, ACU track coach from
1948-63 and master of ceremonies for the
dinner, called Morris' life "the brightest
shing light in Texas."
' Lee Powell, an honorary co-chairman
of the dinner and captain of the 1932 foot-
ball squad, said Morris' influence has been
"very, very great" on ACU and his former
athletes.
0 Chesley McDonald, an honorary co-
chairman of the dinner and member of the
Board of Trustees, called Morris a "cham-
pion ofthe little man."
' "Leaping" Leon Reese, representing
Morris' athletes of the pre-World War ll
era, said the greatest tribute paid to Mor-
ris is the success of his athletes in life. He
called Morris "a great teacher, not only of
athletics but of life . . .a Christian in every
way."
Guest speaker Leeman Bennett, head
coach of the Atlanta Falcons, spoke about
the influence a coach can have on young
people.
He said, "As a coach, 1 know how many
hours Coach Morris put in working with
youth. There is no way to calculate the
hours in terms of what they meant to those
young people. Coach Morris is a simple
man, but what he did takes the greatest of
abilities. He made boys into men."
T oward the end of the evening, Jackson
presented Morris and his wife, Rebec-
ca, with a journal of the evening's events
and the names of the contributors to the
scholarship fund.
Coach Morris stood and in a voice echo-
ing the years of hard work, said, "You've
all pretty much covered the waterfront,
but I have a few things to say."
"I came here in September 1924, and I
started all this mess. We had three major
sports, and we coached the best we knew
how. Now, 58 years later, as I look out and
see your faces, 1 talk to you, but l speak
also to the countless others who have been
in my life who could not be here or who
have gone on."
"And to that eternity of people I say, my
wife, Rebecca, and 1 thank you from the
bottom of our hearts, and you have our
blessings. This period of my life, this time
spent here on this campus, has been the
most wonderful thing to ever happen to
me. My blessings go to all of you."
With those words, Morris sat beside his
devoted wife, while the audience stood and
applauded "the man of the century in
ACU athletics." - Jay Friddell
A. B. Morris
”