William Hanson Morton (September 17, 1909 – April 11, 1987) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and business executive. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for Dartmouth from 1929 to 1931, and later was an executive with

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

. Morton was elected to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1972.

Biography

Morton attended

New Rochelle High School New Rochelle High School (NRHS) is a public high school in New Rochelle, New York. It is part of the City School District of New Rochelle and is the city's sole public high school. Its student body represents 60 countries from around the world. I ...

in his hometown in

New York state New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

, where he played football, baseball, and ice hockey; he graduated in 1927. One of his teammates was

Vincent dePaul Draddy Vincent dePaul Draddy (died July 8, 1990) was an American entrepreneur and former scholar-athlete at Manhattan College. He later became associated with the Izod name and brand, which he helped popularize. Manhattan College While at Manhattan ...

. Morton attended

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of Eng ...

, where he played for the

Dartmouth Indians football The Dartmouth Big Green football team represents Dartmouth College in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) college football competition as a member of the Ivy League. The team possesses a storied tradition that includes a natio ...

team, as it was then known. He was a member of the

varsity team In most English-speaking countries, varsity is an abbreviation of the word ''university''. In the United States and Canada, the term is mostly used in relation to sports teams. Varsity in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, varsity team ...

for the 1929–1931 seasons, where he played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and was nicknamed "Air Mail" Morton. The team had an aggregate record of 19–6–2 for those three seasons. He also played on the Dartmouth men's ice hockey team, and earned

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

honors in both sports. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1932. In October 1940, Morton noted on his draft registration card that he was married and was employed by the

Chase National Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Trade name, doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the retail banking, consumer and commercial bank, commercial banking subsidiar ...

in Chicago. He later founded his own investment firm, W. H. Morton and Company, which was later acquired by

, where Morton became president and vice-chairman before retiring in 1974. Morton was elected to the

in 1972, received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

from Dartmouth in 1982, and was awarded the National Football Foundation Gold Medal in 1986. He was also inducted to the athletic hall of fame at Dartmouth. He died in 1987, aged 77; he was survived by his wife and two children. Morton was posthumously inducted to the New Rochelle Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, Bill 1909 births 1987 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople American business executives American football quarterbacks American Express people Dartmouth Big Green football players Dartmouth Big Green men's ice hockey players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from New Rochelle, New York Players of American football from Westchester County, New York Ice hockey players from New York (state)