Mercury Morris
Encyclopedia
Eugene Edward "Mercury" Morris (born January 5, 1947), is a former American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player, nicknamed early on for his mercurial quickness when running with the ball. Morris was a running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...

 and kick returner for 9 years, playing mostly for the Miami Dolphins
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 (at first, in the American Football League
American Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...

, then, in the American Football Conference following the 1969 merger with the NFL). Morris is also noted for pleading no contest to felony drug trafficking charges in 1986 as part of a plea agreement.

Morris played in three Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...

s and was selected to three Pro Bowl
Pro Bowl
In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...

s.

Amateur career

Morris was born in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, and attended Avonworth High School in the northwestern part of the city. Morris attended West Texas State University (now known as West Texas A&M University
West Texas A&M University
West Texas A&M University , part of the Texas A&M University System, is a public university located in Canyon, Texas, a small city south of Amarillo. West Texas A&M opened on September 20, 1910...

) from 1965 to 1969, where he was an All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...

n at tailback
Tailback
Tailback can mean:* Halfback * A line of motor vehicles caught up in traffic congestion; a traffic jam...

 in 1967 and 1968. In 1967, he finished 2nd in the nation to O.J. Simpson in rushing yards with 1274. In his stellar year of 1968, he set collegiate records for rushing yards in a single game, with 340, rushing yards for a single season, with 1571, and rushing yards over a 3 year college career (freshmen being ineligible), with 3388.

However, O.J. Simpson broke the single-season rushing just the week after Morris set it. And, the three-season career rushing record was broken only 2 years later by Don McCauley
Don McCauley
Don McCauley was a tailback for the University of North Carolina from 1968 to 1970 and he attended the Garden City High School.He was a two-time First Team All-Conference selection and two-time Conference Player of the Year. He garnered the 1971 ACC Athlete of the Year award. He broke many rushing...

.

After college, Morris was picked in the third round of the 1969 AFL-NFL Common Draft
Common Draft
The Common Draft was the name given to the selection of college football players in a combined draft from 1967 to 1969 by the American Football League and the National Football League . This took place after the AFL-NFL merger agreement in 1966....

 by the AFL
American Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...

's Miami Dolphins
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

.

Early career

Morris excelled as both a running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...

 and kick returner
Kick returner
In American and Canadian football, a kick returner is the player on special teams who is primarily responsible to catch kickoffs and attempts to return them in the opposite direction. If the ball is kicked into his own endzone, he must assess the situation on the field while the ball is in the...

. The majority of his playing days were spent with the Miami Dolphins. From 1969 to 1971, he backed up Jim Kiick
Jim Kiick
James Forrest Kiick is a former professional American football running back, who is best known for playing halfback for the Miami Dolphins in the American Football League from 1968 to 1969 and in the National Football League from 1970 through 1974...

 at halfback
Halfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...

 and served as the Dolphins' primary kickoff return man. In his rookie year of 1969, Morris had averaged 26.4 yards per kickoff return, leading the AFL in kickoff returns with 43 and in kickoff return yardage with 1136. Both totals would have also led the NFL. His 105-yard return was the longest in the AFL that season, and he was also one of the AFL's leading punt returners that year. In 1970, he missed some time 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.

Super Bowl years

In 1971, despite being unhappy with his minimal playing time as backup halfback, he helped the Dolphins to their first Super Bowl, Super Bowl VI
Super Bowl VI
Super Bowl VI was an American football game played on January 16, 1972, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 1971 regular season...

 by leading the American Football Conference
American Football Conference
The American Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the National Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL....

(AFC) with a 28.2 yard kickoff return average. 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, an average that would have led the NFL had he enough carries to qualify. That season, Morris was selected for the Pro Bowl
Pro Bowl
In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...

 for the first time as a kick returner, although he also was used as a running back in the game.

In the 1972 and 1973 seasons, Morris earned Super Bowl rings in Super Bowl VII
Super Bowl VII
Super Bowl VII was an American football game played on January 14, 1973, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California, to decide the National Football League champion following the 1972 regular season...

 and Super Bowl VIII
Super Bowl VIII
Super Bowl VIII was a professional American football game played on January 13, 1974 at Rice Stadium. in Houston, Texas to decide the National Football League champion following the 1973 regular season. The American Football Conference champion Miami Dolphins defeated the National Football...

, and was selected for the Pro Bowl in both years. In 1972, Morris shared the halfback position with Kiick, participating in a few less plays than Kiick, but having more carries as a running back. That year, he ran for exactly 1,000 yds on 190 carries, becoming, with teammate Larry Csonka
Larry Csonka
Larry Richard Csonka is a former collegiate and professional American football fullback.-Childhood:One of six children, Csonka was born in Stow, Ohio where he was raised on a farm by his Hungarian family...

, the first 1,000-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: Morris 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 rushing touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...

s, and his 5.3 yard per carry average was 3rd in the NFL.

By 1973, Morris had taken over the starting halfback spot and rushed for 954 yards on 149 carries, despite playing with a neck injury late in the season. His 6.4 yard per carry average led the NFL that season, and he finished 3rd in the NFL in rushing touchdowns.

Although Morris' Super Bowl statistics pale in comparison with teammate Larry Csonka, he excelled in several playoff games leading up to Miami's two Super Bowl championships. In 1972 he led the Dolphins in rushing in both the divisional playoff game against Cleveland
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 and the AFC Championship Game against Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...

 with 72 yards and 76 yards respectively. In 1973, he led the Dolphins in rushing for the divisional playoff game against Cincinnati
Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional football team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the AFC's North Division in the National Football League . The Bengals began play in 1968 as an expansion team in the American Football League , and joined the NFL in 1970 in the AFL-NFL...

 with 106 yards, and added 86 more rushing yards in the AFC Championship Game against Oakland
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

.

Late career

Morris continued playing for the Dolphins in 1974 and 1975, before spending the last season of his shortened career playing for the San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 in 1976. In 1974, he was limited to playing just 5 games due to a knee injury suffered in a pre-season exhibition game. In 1975 he led the Dolphins in rushing yards with 875 despite sharing the halfback position with Benny Malone
Benny Malone
Benjamin Malone Jr. is a former professional American football running back in the National Football League for the Miami Dolphins and Washington Redskins. He played college football at Arizona State and was drafted in the second round of the 1974 NFL Draft...

. After being traded to San Diego before the 1976 season, he ran for 256 yards on only 50 carries that year and decided to retire after the season, in part due to lingering difficulties from the neck injury suffered in 1973.

Eugene "Mercury" Morris finished in the top five of the NFL in rushing touchdowns twice and total touchdowns once during his nine-year career. His career 5.1 yard per carry average is 3rd all time among NFL players (2nd among running backs and 1st among halfbacks) with at least 750 rushing attempts, behind quarterback Randall Cunningham
Randall Cunningham
Randall W. Cunningham is a former American football quarterback.After playing college football at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he was selected in the second round of the 1985 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, with whom he remained through the 1995 season...

 and fullback Jim Brown
Jim Brown
James Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...

. His career kickoff return average of 26.5 is among the all-time top 10 for players with at least 100 returns.

Non-Football activities

In 1974, Morris co-starred as Bookie Garrett in the blaxploitation
Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation or blacksploitation is a film genre which emerged in the United States circa 1970. It is considered an ethnic sub-genre of the general category of exploitation films. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, although the genre's audience...

 film The Black Six
The Black Six
The Black Six is a combination of blaxploitation and outlaw biker film released in 1974. The movie was written by George Theakos and directed by Matt Cimber. It starred several National Football League stars in the title roles. The plot had some similarities to The Magnificent Seven and Easy...

alongside other football stars of the day.

In 1982, Morris was convicted of cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

 trafficking. He was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment, with a mandatory fifteen-year term. On March 6, 1986, his conviction was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court because evidence Morris had offered to prove his entrapment
Entrapment
In criminal law, entrapment is conduct by a law enforcement agent inducing a person to commit an offense that the person would otherwise have been unlikely to commit. In many jurisdictions, entrapment is a possible defense against criminal liability...

 defense had been excluded under a mistaken characterization as hearsay
Hearsay
Hearsay is information gathered by one person from another person concerning some event, condition, or thing of which the first person had no direct experience. When submitted as evidence, such statements are called hearsay evidence. As a legal term, "hearsay" can also have the narrower meaning of...

. Morris was granted a new trial. He was able to reach a plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...

 with the prosecutor, resulting in his release from prison May 23, 1986, after having served three years. He later went on to a career as a motivational speaker
Motivational speaker
A motivational speaker or inspirational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. In a business context, they are employed to communicate company strategy with clarity and help employees to see the future in a positive light and inspire workers to pull...

. Towards the end of 2006, he was in a television commercial spot for a hair-treatment clinic, along with Wade Boggs
Wade Boggs
Wade Anthony Boggs is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He spent his 18-year baseball career primarily with the Boston Red Sox, but also played for the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays...

.

In recent years, Morris has been interviewed often regarding the Dolphins perfect season of 1972 (especially when the New England Patriots compiled a perfect regular season in 2007). During the Patriots' run, Morris was the lead performer (which includes several other key members of the '72 Dolphins) in a reebok commercial entitled "perfectville".

External links

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