miniddy的部落格

Source: The Montana Standard, ButteAug.self storage 15--John and Joan Morris' boy is not just their son, he is also one of many children of Butte to have grown up to do marvelous athletic things in the Mining City.So much so, that as people got a chance to decide the top sports athletes to come out of Butte, Brian Morris was high on a lot of lists.Yet despite the numerous accolades recounting Brian Morris' athletic superiority many would speak in glowing terms of the man he has become.With that recognition, Morris was selected as No. 3 on the Butte Legends' list of athletes as chosen by readers of the Montana Standard and followers of sports here."I am honored to be included since Butte has so many great athletes in its history, and sports is such a big part of the culture," Morris said. "Football is the ultimate team sport and you can't do anything without teammates around you. You can only do as well as a team does around you. I think football has such a strong lifelong commitment because of that experience. Football was the big sport in Butte, and that was what kids grew up playing; and I had my heroes, and that's where I focused my attention and skills."As he did grow up in Butte, he was already recognized as a top athlete with loads of potential as a youngster."He was our neighbor who played basketball at the Hillcrest school," Butte's Bev Murray said. "He was kind to our youngest son, Paul, who was just beginning basketball. I can remember when they played for the championship and won for the school."It was apparent to many that Morris was a stellar specimen on the athletic field or on the courts and tracks he stepped on, especially after he enrolled at Butte Central High School."He was not only a talented athlete, he was an extremely hard worker and very dedicated," current Butte Central head football coach Don Peoples Jr. said of his former high school teammate. "He was the one who would always lead the team with workouts."John McGree, who also played football with Morris at Central, was impressed with the young man's ability to lead and believe."In the state championship football game (in 1981), Miles City scored on us with 12 seconds left, but he never gave up, he was relentless, he thought we could score and come back," McGree said. "We didn't, but he was fiercely competitive. He just was the leader. So when it got time to compete, it was time to compete. We worked out during the summers in the way he orchestrated things. He was the boss. He really, truly, was the most loyal and humble guy you ever met. He wasn't leaning on you and screaming at you to make it happen. He just knew if we spent the time together and worked hard enough he knew we could compete, and everyone just bought into it. He had the ability to make the rest of the teammates buy into winning."Morris acknowledges his competitive streak, one that shows itself in counterbalance to the image of one of the better people anyone meets, according to many. Morris grew up getting plenty of guff from his older brothers, but he realized that battling those bigger bodies would help him once he went face-to-face with kids his age."It's probably just being competitive -- and that's one trait I have had -- hating to lose," Morris admitted. "You want to be faster, stronger, better than the other team and this was somewhere to take it out on the other team. It is a good place to channel that energy in a productive way. If kids don't have a place to unleash that energy they can get into a lot of trouble. It was a combination of things. I was the youngest kid in my family with three older brothers so I had to stick up for myself. There is nothing worse than losing to your brothers."Morris was able to take out his drive on the field and he helped lead the Maroons to the state championship football game in 1981, while he set school records for rushing by gaining 1,640 yards on 236 carries while finishing with 1,732 total yards. Before graduating in the spring of 1982, he also excelled on the track, becoming the state champion in b迷你倉th the intermediate and high hurdles to help lead Central to its first ever state title in the sport."First of all I have never seen anyone with more talent," former teammate Ed Randall said of the man he still calls his best friend. "I never saw anyone work harder, and with that intelligence, he worked hard at everything. It was never about Brian. It was always about the team. He was a nice person and is still the nicest person I have ever met. He means a lot to our community, and we should all be proud of him -- not for what he did on the field -- but what he has done as a person. He is by far the best parent I have ever met."It also appears Morris combined athletic prowess with an exceptional problem-solving acumen."I was a teammate with him from seventh grade on, and he was a tremendously gifted athlete and was very intelligent as well," McGree said. "He had the uncanny ability to do things that other people can't. He would always look for solutions to make things better. At track Brian won the 110 and 300-meter hurdles at state, but he hadn't dominated the 300 all year, maybe winning a few small meets. But he was always looking for solutions and learned to alternate legs and ended up winning the title and dominating when he needed to. We had only six guys scoring to lead us to win the state title, and that 300-hurdles was a big win for us."Morris gives credit to his coaches for instilling those critical thinking skills."Coaches instilled in me the notion that you can whine and complain about things or you can make it better," he said. "You can't change what's around you, but you can change your performance if you work hard at it. That was something hammered into me as I grew up and I implemented it more as I got older. Double down your efforts and make it happen."After graduating from Butte Central he went on to attend Stanford University and played football for the Cardinal. As a member of the NCAA Division I football program, Morris was a four-year letter winner and was the team's starting fullback in the 1986 Gator Bowl, where he had three carries for 12 yards and three catches for an additional six yards.During his final two years with the Cardinal he was named honorable mention all-Pacific 10 Conference and was named to the first team all-Academic Pac-10 team."He was a big kid, 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, and that was a big kid for back in the day, and he had great speed," Peoples said. "He was in my mind one of the greatest football players, if not the greatest at Butte Central. He was very versatile and was a punishing runner. He could blast through the middle for four or five yards and then get past everybody and take off into the end zone. He proved that later playing in the Pac 10."Morris would end up graduating with distinction from the Stanford Law School in 1992.After a long professional run that started with him being a law clerk to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to serving as an attorney in Bozeman, Morris would ultimately end up being named a federal district judge for the District of Montana by President Obama in May.That came as no surprise to Morris' friends and former teammates."I grew up next door to his family, and they were very academic-oriented people," Peoples said. "He always seemed like he was destined for great things."Randall said it's not out of the realm of comparison to say Morris and Michael Jordan had one similar particular aspect of their careers: the best player who was the hardest working one on their teams."We sometimes got caught up in watching him; he was a joy to watch," Randall said. "He dominated every game that he was in. Brian dominated first and foremost by leadership. He knew every position on the field's responsibility. He ran the offense and defense. He was also the most talented player on the field. He was the most physical football player on the fieldCopyright: ___ (c)2013 The Montana Standard (Butte, Mont.) Visit The Montana Standard (Butte, Mont.) at .mtstandard.com Distributed by MCT Information Services文件倉