.jpg) Morton, circa 1969 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
| Born: | (1943-02-05)February 5, 1943 (age 82) Flint, Michigan, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 214 lb (97 kg) | ||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||
| High school: | Campbell(Campbell, California) | ||||||||||||||||
| College: | California | ||||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1965: 1st round, 5th pick | ||||||||||||||||
| AFL draft: | 1965: 10th round, 75 (by theOakland Raiders)[1]th pick | ||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||
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Larry Craig Morton (born February 5, 1943) is an American former professionalfootball player who was aquarterback in theNational Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with theDallas Cowboys andDenver Broncos. He playedcollege football for theCalifornia Golden Bears, receivingAll-American honors, and was selected by the Cowboys fifth overall in the1965 NFL draft. Following nine seasons with the Cowboys, a quarterback controversy withRoger Staubach led to Morton joining theNew York Giants for three seasons. He spent his final six seasons as a member of the Broncos, winningNFL Comeback Player of the Year andAFC Offensive Player of the Year in 1977.
Morton is the first starting quarterback to appear in theSuper Bowl with more than one franchise, having helped lead the Cowboys toSuper Bowl V and the Broncos toSuper Bowl XII. He is also the only quarterback to start for multiple franchises in their inaugural Super Bowl appearance. Morton was inducted to theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1992.
Morton is a 1961 graduate ofCampbell High School inCampbell, California, where he received All-state honors infootballbaseball andbasketball. In football, he received honors as a senior.
As apitcher, Morton received offers frommajor league teams to play in theirminor league systems. Morton was voted Northern California high school athlete of the year as aquarterback and was selected to play in the annual California Shrine High School football game.
Morton played college football at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, under head coachMarv Levy and assistant coachBill Walsh, both future NFL head coaches and members of thePro Football Hall of Fame. Morton became the starter in the sixth game of his sophomore season in1962. Back then his nickname was "Big Hummer" and his production dominated theGolden Bears offense output.
As a sophomore in 1962, he only played in the last five games because of a knee injury he suffered in practice while returning punts. He still managed 905 passing yards, a 54% completion rate and 9touchdowns. As a junior in1963 he already owned most of Cal's all-time quarterback records.
In his three seasons as a starter at Cal, he never played on a winning team. He completed 185 of 308 passes for 2,121 yards and 13touchdowns in his senior season in1964, but even with a losing 3–7 record, he was recognized for his talent and contributions by being named first-teamAll-American over other winning quarterbacks. He also received theW. J. Voit Memorial Trophy, given to the best player on thePacific Coast and thePop Warner Trophy, given to the best senior player. In theballoting for theHeisman Trophy won byJohn Huarte ofNotre Dame, Morton was seventh, ahead ofJoe Namath ofAlabama andGale Sayers ofKansas.[2][3]
Morton finished his college career with 4,501 passing yards (aPac-8 record), and most of Cal's All-time passing records, including:
In 1964 as the starting quarterback for the West, he facedRoger Staubach in theEast–West Shrine Game, which was a sign of things to come.
He was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame, the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame and the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame.
Morton was selected by theDallas Cowboys fifth overall in the1965 NFL draft. He spent his first four seasons as the backup forDon Meredith, but still received opportunities to play due to periodic injuries suffered by Meredith.
In1969, he became the starter atquarterback overRoger Staubach, after Meredith's unexpected retirement. Morton dislocated a right finger in preseason and had to miss the season opener. In the next three games, he had a 71.1% passing percentage and was seen as having a promising future as the starter. In the fourth game against theAtlanta Falcons, he suffered aseparated right shoulder after being tackled byTommy Nobis. In the next contest against thePhiladelphia Eagles, he set club records with 10 consecutive passes and 5touchdown passes in a single game, although he sat most of the second half. He did not miss any games because of his shoulder, but his effectiveness decreased to 53.6% the rest of the season, as he caused more damage.[4] He had surgery on his right shoulder during the offseason.[5]
In1970, although he was bothered most of the season recuperating from his right shoulder surgery, he finished third in the NFL in passer rating with 89.8. He also led the Cowboys toSuper Bowl V, where the team lost 16–13 to theBaltimore Colts. He had surgery on his right elbow during the offseason.
In1971, head coachTom Landry created one of the most famousquarterback controversies inNFL history,[6] when he began alternating Morton with Staubach as the starting quarterback, reaching its extreme against theChicago Bears, where they alternated between plays. After this famous game, Landry settled on Staubach and the Cowboys went on a 10-game winning streak that included a 24–3 victory inSuper Bowl VI over theMiami Dolphins.
In1972, Staubach suffered a separated right shoulder in the third preseason game against theLos Angeles Rams and Morton was named the starter. Although Staubach was activated in the fifth game of the season, by then Morton was entrenched at quarterback. For the first time since 1969, his arm had regained its strength, helping him register 185 completions (club record) out of 339 attempts (54.6%), 2,396 yards (fifth in the league), 15touchdowns and 21 interceptions.[7] He was replaced late in the third quarter of the first-round playoff game against theSan Francisco 49ers. Staubach entered an apparently hopeless situation trailing 28–13 and threw twotouchdown passes in the last 90 seconds to win the game 30–28,[8] eventually sealing Morton's fate with the team.
On March 18,1974, he was selected by theBirmingham Americans in the second round (18th overall) of theWFL Pro Draft. On April 10, after repeatedly asking for a trade, Morton signed a contract with theHouston Texans of theWorld Football League for their1975 season. He never played a down with them; he was traded to theNew York Giants six games into the 1974 season,[9] in exchange for their number-one draft choice in1975 (#2-Randy White) and a second-round draft choice in1976 (#40-Jim Jensen).[10]
After acquiring Morton, the Giants traded their startingquarterbackNorm Snead to theSan Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third-round draft choice in 1975 and a fourth in 1976.[11] During his time with the Giants, he struggled along with the team, and "felt the vocal wrath of the fans."[12] He was traded to theDenver Broncos in1977 in exchange for quarterbackSteve Ramsey and a fifth-round draft choice in1978 (#137-Brian DeRoo). In his 34 career games with the Giants over three seasons, he had an 8–25–0 record, throwing for a total of 5,734 yards, 29 touchdowns, 49 interceptions and a 52.1 completion percentage.
At age 34, Morton revived his career with the Broncos,[13] finishing the season as the second-rated passer in theAFC. Morton was named theNFL Comeback Player of the Year for 1977 and selected All-AFC by theSporting News. Although he suffered in theplayoffs from a swollen left hip that needed to be drained,[14] he overcame the injury to become the first NFL quarterback to start theSuper Bowl for two different teams (Dallas inV and Denver inXII), a feat only equaled byKurt Warner,Peyton Manning, andTom Brady.[15] Morton is also the only quarterback to have started for two different teams' inaugural Super Bowl appearances. Unlike Warner, Manning, and Brady, however, Morton would not win a Super Bowl as a starter. He threw a franchise playoff record four interceptions in Denver's defeat against his former team, the Cowboys, which led to him being pulled in favor ofNorris Weese.
Morton's best statistical season came in his penultimate 17th season in1981, when he threw for 3,195 yards and 21touchdowns and had a 90.5passer rating. He was a downfield passer not known for his mobility, but is one of the all-time leaders in yards per completion. He briefly held the record for the most consecutive passes completed. His 8.5 yards per attempt that season remains a Broncos franchise record, as do his 54 sacks, and two games where he was sacked seven times each (later matched by Elway andTim Tebow). He was sacked 54 times in 1981, a team record for 41 years and still among the highest amount of sacks suffered by any quarterback in one season past the age of 35 in NFL history.[16]
Morton wore number 7 for the Broncos and retired just before the arrival of celebrated rookieJohn Elway in1983,[17] who wore the same number and in whose honor it was retired. Morton remains the third all-time passing yards leader in franchise history with 11,895 and his regular-season record was 50 wins and 28 losses in five seasons.
In 1986, Morton was inducted to theColorado Sports Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Denver Broncos' Ring of Fame in1988.
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Comp | Att | Yards | TD | Int | Rate | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 1965 | DAL | 4 | 1 | 17 | 34 | 173 | 2 | 4 | 45.0 | 3 | −8 | −2.7 | 0 |
| 1966 | DAL | 6 | 0 | 13 | 27 | 225 | 3 | 1 | 98.5 | 7 | 50 | 7.1 | 0 |
| 1967 | DAL | 9 | 3 | 69 | 137 | 978 | 10 | 10 | 67.7 | 15 | 42 | 2.8 | 0 |
| 1968 | DAL | 13 | 1 | 44 | 85 | 752 | 4 | 6 | 68.4 | 4 | 28 | 7 | 2 |
| 1969 | DAL | 13 | 13 | 162 | 302 | 2,619 | 21 | 15 | 85.4 | 16 | 62 | 3.9 | 1 |
| 1970 | DAL | 12 | 11 | 102 | 207 | 1,819 | 15 | 7 | 89.8 | 16 | 37 | 2.3 | 0 |
| 1971 | DAL | 10 | 4 | 78 | 143 | 1,131 | 7 | 8 | 73.5 | 4 | 9 | 2.2 | 1 |
| 1972 | DAL | 14 | 14 | 185 | 339 | 2,396 | 15 | 21 | 65.9 | 8 | 26 | 3.2 | 2 |
| 1973 | DAL | 14 | 0 | 13 | 32 | 174 | 3 | 1 | 76.8 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| 1974 | DAL | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 91.7 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| NYG | 8 | 7 | 122 | 237 | 1,510 | 9 | 13 | 61.3 | 4 | 5 | 1.2 | 0 | |
| 1975 | NYG | 14 | 14 | 186 | 363 | 2,359 | 11 | 16 | 63.6 | 22 | 72 | 3.3 | 0 |
| 1976 | NYG | 12 | 12 | 153 | 284 | 1,865 | 9 | 20 | 55.6 | 15 | 48 | 3.2 | 0 |
| 1977 | DEN | 14 | 14 | 131 | 254 | 1,929 | 14 | 8 | 82.0 | 31 | 125 | 4.0 | 4 |
| 1978 | DEN | 14 | 13 | 146 | 267 | 1,802 | 11 | 8 | 77.0 | 17 | 71 | 4.2 | 0 |
| 1979 | DEN | 14 | 10 | 204 | 370 | 2,626 | 16 | 19 | 70.6 | 23 | 13 | 0.6 | 1 |
| 1980 | DEN | 12 | 9 | 183 | 301 | 2,150 | 12 | 13 | 77.8 | 21 | 29 | 1.4 | 1 |
| 1981 | DEN | 15 | 15 | 225 | 376 | 3,195 | 21 | 14 | 90.5 | 8 | 18 | 2.2 | 0 |
| 1982 | DEN | 3 | 3 | 18 | 26 | 193 | 0 | 3 | 51.1 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Total | 207 | 144 | 2,053 | 3,786 | 27,908 | 183 | 187 | 73.5 | 215 | 627 | 2.9 | 12 | |
Following his playing career, Morton served as head coach for theDenver Gold of theUnited States Football League (USFL). He was a voter in theHarris Interactive College Football Poll, a component of college football's now-defunctBowl Championship Series.
In 2008, he co-authored a book withDenver Post writer Adrian Dater entitled"Then Morton Said to Elway..." - The Best Denver Broncos Stories Ever Told. The book was published by Triumph Books.
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