 Morris atThe White House, August 2013 | |||||||||||||
| No. 22 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Running back | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | (1947-01-05)January 5, 1947 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Died | September 21, 2024(2024-09-21) (aged 77) Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Listed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Avonworth (Pittsburgh) | ||||||||||||
| College | West Texas State | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1969:3rd round, 63rd overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Eugene Edward "Mercury"Morris (January 5, 1947 – September 21, 2024) was an American professionalfootball player who was arunning back andkick returner. He played for eight years, primarily for theMiami Dolphins in theAmerican Football League (AFL) first as a rookie in1969. Then he played in theAmerican Football Conference (AFC) after the1970merger with theNational Football League (NFL).
Morris played in threeSuper Bowls, winning twice and was selected to threePro Bowls. In 1982, Morris was convicted of felonydrug trafficking charges. After three and a half years in prison, he was released following a plea agreement in which he pledno contest to cocaine conspiracy charges.[1]
Born inPittsburgh on January 5, 1947,[2] Morris attendedAvonworth High School in the northwestern suburbs of the city. He attended West Texas State University (nowWest Texas A&M University) inCanyon from 1965 to 1969, where he was anAll-American for theBuffaloes attailback in1967 and1968. In 1967, he finished second in the nation toO. J. Simpson ofUSC in rushing yards with 1,274.[3]: 44–45
In his record setting year of 1968, Morris set collegiate records for rushing yards in a single game, with 340, rushing yards for a single season with 1,571, and rushing yards over a three-year college career (freshmen being ineligible), with 3,388.[3]: 44–45 Simpson broke the single-season rushing record just one week after Morris set it.[3]: 44–45 Morris's three-season career rushing record was broken two years later byDon McCauley.[3]: 44–45
After college, Morris was picked in thethird round of the1969 AFL-NFLCommon Draft by theAFL'sMiami Dolphins.[4]
Morris excelled as both arunning back andkick returner. The majority of his playing days were spent with the Miami Dolphins. From 1969 to 1971, he backed upJim Kiick athalfback and served as the Dolphins' primarykickoff return man. In his rookie year of 1969, Morris averaged 26.4 yards per kickoff return, leading the AFL in kickoff returns with 43 and in kickoff return yardage with 1136.[5] Both totals would have also led the NFL.[6]: 772 His 105-yard return was the longest in the AFL that season, and he was also one of the AFL's leadingpunt returners that year.[5] In 1970, he missed some time on the field due to a leg injury, but his 6.8 yard per carry average on 60 runs was the highest in the league among players with at least 50 runs.[3]: 59
In 1971, despite being unhappy with his minimal playing time as backup halfback,[7]: 204 [3]: 61–63 he helped the Dolphins to their first Super Bowl,Super Bowl VI, by leading theAmerican Football Conference (AFC) with a 28.2 yard kickoff return average.[6]: 772 During the regular season, Morris also made the most of his opportunities at running back, gaining 315 rushing yards on 57 carries for a 5.5 yard average,[5] an average that would have led the NFL if he had enough carries to qualify.[6]: 766 That season, Morris was selected for thePro Bowl for the first time as a kick returner, although he also was used as a running back in the game.[3]: 61–63
In the 1972 and 1973 seasons, Morris earned Super Bowl rings inSuper Bowl VII andSuper Bowl VIII and was selected for the Pro Bowl in both years. In 1972, he shared the halfback position with Kiick, participating in fewer plays than Kiick but having more carries as a running back.[7]: 205 That year, he ran for exactly 1,000 yds on 190 carries,[5] becoming, with teammateLarry Csonka, the first1,000-yard tandem in NFL history. Morris was first thought to have finished with 991 yards but the Dolphins' management asked the league to examine a play in which Morris fumbled a lateral so he was awarded the nine yards previously recorded as lost on the play, giving him 1,000 yards for the season. That year, Morris also led the NFL with 12 rushingtouchdowns[6]: 766 [5] and his 5.3 yard per carry average was third in the NFL.[5]
By 1973, Morris had taken over the starting halfback spot and rushed for 954 yards on 149 carries,[5] despite playing with a neck injury late in the season. His 6.4 yard per carry average led the NFL for the season,[6]: 766 [5] and he finished third in the NFL in rushing touchdowns.[5]
Morris excelled in several playoff games leading up to Miami's two Super Bowl victories. In 1972, he led the Dolphins in rushing in both the divisional playoff game againstCleveland and theAFC Championship Game againstPittsburgh with 72 yards and 76 yards respectively.[6]: 235,242 In 1973, he led the Dolphins in rushing for the divisional playoff game againstCincinnati with 106 yards and added 86 more rushing yards in theAFC Championship Game againstOakland.[6]: 253,260
Morris continued playing for the Dolphins in 1974 and 1975, before spending the last season of his shortened career playing for theSan Diego Chargers in 1976. In 1974 a knee injury Morris suffered in the preseason limited him to five regular season games that year.[3]: 83 Morris missed the season opener and returned for the second game of the season, but then reinjured the knee in game 3.[8][9] After playing three more games in November and December he suffered a neck injury and reinjured the knee, effectively ending his season.[10][11] In 1975, Morris led the Dolphins in rushing yards, with 875,[5] despite sharing the halfback position withBenny Malone.[3]: 91 After being traded to San Diego before the 1976 season, he ran for 256 yards on 50 carries that year and decided to retire after the season, in part due to lingering difficulties from the neck injury suffered in a 1973 game against thePittsburgh Steelers and reinjured in a car accident.[3]: 98 [12]
Morris finished in the top five of the NFL in rushing touchdowns twice and total touchdowns once during his eight-year career. His career 5.1 yard per carry average was third all time among NFL players (1st among halfbacks), only behindfullbacksJim Brown andMarion Motley.[13] As of 2017, he ranked sixth all time behind Brown, Motley, running backJamaal Charles, and quarterbacksMichael Vick andRandall Cunningham.[13] Morris's career kickoff return average of 26.5 is among the all-time top 20 for players with at least 100 returns, and was in the top 10 at the time of his retirement.[14][6]: 784 As of 2017 he was ranked 18th.[14]
In 1974, Morris co-starred as Bookie Garrett in theblaxploitation filmThe Black Six alongside other football stars of the day.[15] In 1982, Morris was convicted ofcocaine trafficking. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, with a mandatory 15-year term. On March 6, 1986, his conviction was overturned by theFlorida Supreme Court because evidence he had offered to prove hisentrapment defense had been excluded under a mistaken characterization ashearsay. Morris was granted a new trial. He was able to reach aplea bargain with the prosecutor, resulting in his release from prison on May 23, 1986, after having served three years. He later appeared in an anti-cocainepublic service announcement where he talked about his time in prison.[16]
After being released from prison, Morris later began a career as amotivational speaker.[2][16]
Morris died on September 21, 2024, at the age of 77.[17] He is survived by five children and three sisters.[2]
Source:[5]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Led the league | |
| Won theSuper Bowl | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | Fumbles | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Att | Yds | Avg | Y/G | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Fum | FR | ||
| 1969 | MIA | 14 | 0 | 23 | 110 | 4.8 | 7.9 | 37 | 1 | 6 | 65 | 10.8 | 29 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 1970 | MIA | 12 | 1 | 60 | 409 | 6.8 | 34.1 | 40 | 0 | 12 | 149 | 12.4 | 50 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| 1971 | MIA | 14 | 3 | 57 | 315 | 5.5 | 22.5 | 51 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 3.2 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1972 | MIA | 14 | 11 | 190 | 1,000 | 5.3 | 71.4 | 33 | 12 | 15 | 168 | 11.2 | 34 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| 1973 | MIA | 13 | 10 | 149 | 954 | 6.4 | 73.4 | 70 | 10 | 4 | 51 | 12.8 | 36 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 1974 | MIA | 5 | 3 | 56 | 214 | 3.8 | 42.8 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 27 | 13.5 | 23 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 1975 | MIA | 14 | 14 | 219 | 875 | 4.0 | 62.5 | 49 | 4 | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| 1976 | SD | 13 | 0 | 50 | 256 | 5.1 | 19.7 | 30 | 2 | 8 | 52 | 6.5 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Career | 99 | 42 | 804 | 4,133 | 5.1 | 41.7 | 70 | 31 | 54 | 543 | 10.1 | 50 | 1 | 32 | 4 | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
