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Dave Morey

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Dave Morey
Biographical details
Born(1889-02-25)February 25, 1889
Malden, Massachusetts
DiedJanuary 4, 1986(1986-01-04) (aged 96)
Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts
Playing career
Football
1910–1912Dartmouth
Baseball
1911–1913Dartmouth
1913Philadelphia Athletics
Position(s)Halfback (football)
Pitcher (baseball)
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1914Dartmouth (assistant)
1916–1917Lowell Textile
1921–1924Middlebury
1925–1927Auburn
1928Fordham (assistant)
1929–1939Bates
1948–1950Lowell Tech
Basketball
1921–1925Middlebury
1948–1959Lowell Tech
Baseball
1919Malden HS (MA)
1921–1925Middlebury
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
Football
All-American, 1912

David Beale Morey (February 25, 1889 – January 4, 1986) was an American football and baseball player, coach of a number of sports, and college athletics administrator. He was an All-American football player for Dartmouth College in 1912 and a professional baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1913. Morey coached football and baseball at the Lowell Technological Institute (1916–1917, 1948–1959), Middlebury College (1921–1924), Auburn University (1925–1927), Fordham University (1928), and Bates College (1929–1939). After leading small colleges to ties against college football powers Harvard and Yale, Morey was given the nickname, "David the Giant Killer" by Grantland Rice.

Playing career

Early years

Morey was a native of Malden, Massachusetts. He played baseball and football, and also competed on the track team, at Malden High School.[1] In June 1909, Morey struck out 25 batters in a baseball game against Everett High School.[2]

Dartmouth College

Morey attended Dartmouth College where he played for three years each with the school's Dartmouth Big Green football and Dartmouth Big Green baseball teams. He was captain of Dartmouth's baseball team during his senior year in 1913.[3]

Morey played right halfback for Dartmouth's football team from 1910 to 1912.[4] After the 1912 season, he was selected as a first-team All-American by W. J. MacBeth and a second-team All-American by Walter Camp.[5][6][7]

Professional baseball player

Morey graduated from Dartmouth in 1913 and was signed by Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics. He was a right-handed pitcher and a left-handed batter, and played in two games for the Athletics during their 1913 season.

On July 4, Morey pitched three innings of relief in the first game of a doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, allowing two runs on two hits. Baseball Hall of Famers dotted both teams' lineups, as the A's featured Eddie Collins and Home Run Baker, while Boston featured Tris Speaker and Harry Hooper. The A's took a 13-6 loss at the hands of Boston's Hall of Fame moundsman, Smoky Joe Wood.[8]

Morey's second big league appearance came on July 17 in a 5-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park. Morey pitched the eighth inning in relief of Philadelphia starter Bullet Joe Bush, and retired the White Sox side in order.[9] In two major league appearances, Morey did not have any decisions and compiled an earned run average of 4.50. He came to bat once, but did not reach base.[10]

Morey also played minor league baseball in the New England League, playing for the Worcester Busters in 1914,[11][12] and the Manchester Textiles in 1915.[13][14]

Coaching career

Early coaching positions

In the fall of 1914, Morey returned to Dartmouth as the school's freshman football coach, working as an assistant to Frank "Major" Cavanaugh.[15][16] He also worked for the American Felt Company in Boston.[15] He also served briefly as the baseball coach for Boston University.[1]

From 1916 to 1917, Morey was the football coach at Lowell Textile Institute, later renamed Lowell Technological Institute.[16] Following the entry of the United States into World War I, Morey served in the United States armed forces.[16] In 1919, Morey returned to Malden High School as the school's baseball coach.[17]

Between 1915 and 1921, Morey spent his summers on Cape Cod, playing for the Oak Bluffs and Falmouth town teams in what is now the Cape Cod Baseball League. Morey played for Oak Bluffs in 1915 and 1916, then for a combined Oak Bluffs-Falmouth team in 1918,[18] taking over the combined team as player-manager in 1919,[19] and remaining as player-manager with the Falmouth team in 1920 and 1921.[20][21] Morey's 1919 team featured Baseball Hall of Famer Pie Traynor.[22]

Middlebury College

In July 1920, Morey was hired by Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont as assistant to the school's athletic director. Morey was given the responsibility for developing the school's football team.[23][24]

In 1921, Morey took over as the school's head football coach. Over the next four years, Morey helped turn the program around, improving from a record of 2–6 in 1922 to 7–1 in 1924. The most notable win during Morey's tenure at Middlebury was a 6–6 tie with Harvard in 1923, then one of the top football programs in the country. Two drop kicks by Middlebury's Al Klevenow provided the scoring in the tie with Harvard.[25] Morey took particular pride in the tie against Harvard, noting that Middlebury had a total male enrollment of 140 at the time.[25]

In 1924, Morey's Middlebury eleven outscored its opponents 254–44, won high-scoring honors among all of the Eastern football teams, and lost only one game—to Harvard.[26] Morey was also the coach of Middlebury's baseball and basketball teams from 1921 to 1925.[16]

In February 1925, Morey announced his resignation as coach at Middlebury, effective at the end of the baseball season in June 1925.[26] He stated that his one and only reason for leaving Middlebury was the ill health of his wife, which could only be remedied by residence in a warmer client.[26]

Auburn University

In September 1925, Morey was hired as the head football coach at Auburn University in Alabama.[27] Morey was the head coach at Auburn for three years (1925–1927), compiling an overall record of 10–10–1 at the school. The highlight of Morey's tenure with Auburn was a 2–0 win over Bernie Bierman's Tulane squad in the game that dedicated New Orleans' famous Sugar Bowl.[25][28] In 1927, Morey's Auburn football team lost its starting quarterback, who was expelled after being caught sneaking into the women's dormitory following a night of drunken reverie.[29] The team opened the 1927 season with an 0–3 record, including embarrassing losses to Stetson College and Clemson. At a pep rally six days after the loss to Clemson, Morey announced his resignation.[30]

Fordham University and NYU

After leaving Auburn, Morey returned north and accepted a position as an assistant football coach at Fordham University working under Major Cavanaguh—who had previously been Morey's head coach at Dartmouth.[16] He also undertook graduate work in physical education at New York University, where he also taught classes in athletic coaching.[31]

Bates College

In January 1929, Morey was hired by Bates College in Lewiston, Maine as the head coach of its football, baseball and ice hockey teams.[28] In 1932, sports writer Grantland Rice gave Morey the nickname "David the Giant Killer" after his Bates College football team played a highly touted Yale team to a scoreless tie.[28] Morey remained at Bates until 1939. In ten years at Bates, his football teams compiled a record of 28–33–9.[32] In June 1939, Morey unexpectedly resigned his position at Bates. He left his decision unexplained other than a public statement that, "There's no place at Bates for me now." Following the announcement, students at Bates circulated a petition urging the college to reinstate Morey.[33]

War years

During World War II, Morey served as an instructor at the U.S. Naval Air Station at Martha's Vineyard.[34] From 1944 to 1948, Morey was the head coach at Marblehead High School.[16]

Lowell Technical Institute

In August 1948, Morey accepted an offer to return to Lowell Technological Institute, where he had been a coach from 1916 to 1917 while the school was called Lowell Textile School. He was appointed in 1948 to the physical education department at Lowell and served as an assistant coach in three sports, including football.[16] He served as football coach at Lowell until the school abandoned the sport in 1950.[1] He also coached Lowell teams in basketball (1948–1959), soccer (1951–1958), and lacrosse (for five years).[1] In March 1959, Morey announced his retirement from Lowell at age 70.[1]

Later years

In 1959, Morey accepted a position teaching history at Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts. He also helped with coaching the Curry football team in 1959.[25]

In October 1963, the Hartford, Connecticut chapter of the College Football Hall of Fame nominated Morey for induction into the national College Football Hall of Fame.[34] However, he did not receive a sufficient percentage of the total votes cast for induction. In November 1964, Morey was honored by the Gridiron Club with a dinner in his honor in Boston.[35]

Morey lived in his later years in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts on Martha's Vineyard.[34] He died there in 1986 at age 96.[10]

Head coaching record

Football

Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs
Middlebury Panthers () (1921–1924)
1921 Middlebury 4–4
1922 Middlebury 2–6
1923 Middlebury 3–3–2
1924 Middlebury 7–1
Middlebury: 16–14–2
Auburn Tigers (Southern Conference) (1925–1927)
1925 Auburn 5–3–1 3–2–1 9th
1926 Auburn 5–4 3–3 T–10th
1927 Auburn 0–3[n 1] 0–2[n 1] [n 1]
Auburn: 10–10–1 6–7–1
Bates Bobcats () (1929–1938)
1929 Bates 3–3–1
1930 Bates 5–2
1931 Bates 5–2
1932 Bates 2–3–2
1933 Bates 1–3–2
1934 Bates 3–3–1
1935 Bates 3–4–1
1936 Bates 2–4
1937 Bates 2–4–1
1938 Bates 2–5–1
Bates: 28–33–9
Total: 54–57–12

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Boozer Pitts coached the last seven games of the season.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Retirement Testimonial for Tech Coach Dave Morey April 18". The Lowell Sun. 1959-03-28.
  2. ^ "Inside Information". Malden Evening News. 1963-03-07.
  3. ^ The Shield: official publication of the Theta Delta Chi Fraternity, Volume 30, p. 54. Theta Delta Chi. 1914.
  4. ^ The Shield, pp. 54 and 98/
  5. ^ "American Gridiron Lights Are Chosen: Camp Picks One Western Man on All-Star Team". The Indianapolis Star. 1912-12-03.
  6. ^ "MacBeth Nominates an All-American Eleven". Salt Lake Tribune. 1912-12-08.
  7. ^ "Picking "All-American" Teams a Fad: Here's Latest and It Comes from New York; And of Course, They're All Easterners, Havard, Carlisle and Dartmouth". The Lima News. 1912-12-10.
  8. ^ "Philadelphia Athletics at Boston Red Sox Box Score, July 4, 1913". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  9. ^ "Philadelphia Athletics at Chicago White Sox Box Score, July 17, 1913". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Dave Morey player profile". baseball-reference.com.
  11. ^ "Timely Baseball Bits". Hartford Courant. 1914-05-29.
  12. ^ "Ring Stops the Leader: Worcester's Long String of Victories Broken by the Champs' Youngest Pitcher—Score 6-4". Lowell Sun. 1914-06-18.
  13. ^ "The World of Sports". Fitchburg Daily Sentinel. 1915-03-17.
  14. ^ "Diamond Dazzles". The Lowell Sun. 1915-03-19.
  15. ^ a b The Shield, p. 175.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g "Dave Morey Joins Lowell Textile Coaching Staff: Appointment of Former All-America Star Made Today by Lester H. Cushing". The Lowell Sun. 1948-08-23.
  17. ^ "untitled". Fitchburg Daily Sentinel. 1919-09-10.
  18. ^ "Brownies Lost to Falmouth". Falmouth Enterprise. Falmouth, MA. August 10, 1918. p. 5.
  19. ^ Morey, David B. (August 30, 1919). "Communication". Falmouth Enterprise. Falmouth, MA. p. 7.
  20. ^ "Dave Morey Breaks Leg". Falmouth Enterprise. Falmouth, MA. July 31, 1920. p. 2.
  21. ^ "Base Ball". Falmouth Enterprise. Falmouth, MA. June 18, 1921. p. 7.
  22. ^ "Baseball Manager Recalls Cape Teams". Falmouth Enterprise. Falmouth, MA. March 31, 1939. p. 8.
  23. ^ "Dartmouth Star Named". The Lowell Sun. 1920-07-29.
  24. ^ "Morey to Assist Middlebury Coach". The North Adams Evening Transcript. 1920-07-29.
  25. ^ a b c d "Veteran Sportscaster Ted Husing Now Crippled And Partially Blind". Newport Daily News. 1959-11-19.
  26. ^ a b c "Dave Morey Resigns Post at Middlebury". The North Adams Evening Transcript. 1925-02-25.
  27. ^ "untitled". Oakland Tribune. 1925-09-27.
  28. ^ a b c Gil Wood (1957-10-25). "A Fabulous Career: 500 Bates Athletes Hail Morey As 'Finest Coach in the Country'". The Lowell Sun.
  29. ^ Pippa Holloway (editor) (2009). Other Souths: diversity and difference in the U.S. South, Reconstruction to Present, p. 155. Univ. of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-3052-5. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  30. ^ Holloway, p. 155.
  31. ^ "David Morey Accepts Bates' Coaching Job". The Olean Herald. 1929-01-25.
  32. ^ "Bates College Football Year by Year Season Records" (PDF). Bates College.
  33. ^ "Petition Hinted To Retain Dave Morey At Bates: Talk of Spinks As Successor Brings Grads Into Open". The Portsmouth, N.H., Herald. 1939-06-27.
  34. ^ a b c "David Morey Nominated For Honor". The Berkshire Eagle. 1963-10-18.
  35. ^ Frank Sargent (1964-11-04). "The Lookout". The Lowell Sun.
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