Jim_Morgan_(basketball)

Jim Morgan (basketball)

Jim Morgan (basketball)

American basketball player (1934–2019)

James E. Morgan (June 13, 1934 – September 29, 2019) was an American basketball player and race horse trainer.[1] He played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals and won a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship in 1956. Morgan was selected by the Syracuse Nationals in the 1957 NBA draft but never played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a high school teacher and basketball coach in Ohio until he became a horse trainer in the mid-1960s. Morgan was one of Ohio's leading horse trainers over a 40-year career.

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Early life

Morgan was born on June 13, 1934, in Hyden, Kentucky, as one of seven children to parents William and Mae Morgan.[1] He spent his early life living with his family in a two-room log cabin that had no electricity or running water until it was burnt down when sparks jumped from a wood fire.[2] During the early 1940s, Morgan and his family moved to Dayton, Ohio, where his father worked at a Delco Electronics factory.[2]

Basketball career

Morgan attended Stivers High School in Dayton and led the team to a No. 1 state ranking in the early 1950s.[1][3] Morgan opted to play for the Louisville Cardinals over offers from the Kentucky Wildcats and his hometown Dayton Flyers.[3][4] He scored 1,105 points in four seasons played with the Cardinals.[3] The Cardinals won the 1956 National Invitation Tournament when they defeated the Dayton Flyers.[2]

Morgan was selected by the Syracuse Nationals as the 15th overall pick in the 1957 NBA draft but opted to not sign with the team after they offered him a $5,000 contract.[2] He was a social studies teacher and basketball coach at Stebbins High School in Riverside, Ohio, for nine seasons.[1][4]

Race horse training career

Morgan resigned from Stebbins in 1966 so he could pursue a longtime dream and became a race horse trainer which he had first become interested in when he worked as an usher at the Churchill Downs racetrack in 1953.[3][2] Morgan was one of the most successful Thoroughbred trainers in the Midwest and won over 300 stakes races to make him the winningest stakes trainer in Ohio.[3][2] His horses amassed 1,993 total wins and made earnings of $20.7 million from 1967 to 2008.[3] Morgan served as president of the Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, and a trustee in the Thoroughbred's Horsemen's Health Fund from 1998 until his death.[3]

Honors

Morgan was inducted into the Louisville Cardinals Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981,[5] the Stivers Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006,[4] and the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.[6] He had his No. 12 jersey honored by the Louisville Cardinals and it hangs in the rafters of Freedom Hall.[3][4]

Personal life

Morgan had two children.[1] Two of his brothers were collegiate athletes at Morehead State University: Mickey on the basketball team and Tom on the football team.[2]

Morgan survived a serious heart attack in 1993 and continued working despite being recommended to retire by a doctor.[2]

Morgan died at the age of 85 from a suspected heart attack in Dayton on September 29, 2019.[3] He was buried in his family's plot at Deerfield Cemetery in South Lebanon, Ohio.[2]

References

  1. [1]
    "James E. Morgan". Dignity Memorial. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  2. [2]
    Archdeacon, Tom (October 6, 2019). "Archdeacon: Remembering 'a larger than life character'". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  3. [3]
    Engelhardt, John (October 2, 2019). "Legendary Ohio Horseman, Basketball Star Jim Morgan, 85, Dies". Paulick Report. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  4. [4]
    "James E. "Jim" Morgan 1934 – 2019". Stivers Athletic Hall of Fame. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  5. [5]
    "Jim Morgan". Louisville Cardinals. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  6. [6]
    "James Morgan". Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
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