Laird Monterey "Monte" Morris (October 9, 1889 – August 19, 1954) was an American

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who played at scrum-half for the United States men's national team in its first capped match in 1912.

Biography

Morris was born on October 9, 1889, in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He was the son of Henry Bishop Morris and Mary Kathryn Morris (born Baker). Morris attended the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, where in 1910 he earned a place on the varsity rugby team. In 1911, Morris was late to return to the university, but eventually did so and rejoined the rugby team. During the 1912 season, Morris saw his playing time reduced as the coaching staff attempted to develop other players to play his position, although he remained the best player at that position on the university team. At the end of the 1912 season, on November 16, 1912, Morris played for the United States team at scrum-half in its first capped match—a 12–8 loss to Australia. Morris served as the team's captain for this match. In 1913, Morris did not return to the University of California rugby team. Over the course of his collegiate rugby career, Morris was described as "one of the grittiest halves that ever trailed a scrum," and as a member of "one of the most brilliant ack fieldcombinations ever seen on the Coast." As a member of the class of 1913, Morris was a member of the Winged Helmet and Golden Bear honor societies at the University of California.1914 Blue & Gold, pp. 322–323. Morris died on August 19, 1954, in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

References

Notes

* 1889 births 1954 deaths American rugby union players United States international rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves California Golden Bears rugby players Sportspeople from California {{US-rugbyunion-bio-stub