Larry Cleo Morris (December 10, 1933 – December 19, 2012) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, Kick (football), kicking a Football (ball), ball to score a Goal (sport), goal. Unqualified, Football (word), the word ''football'' normally means the form of football tha ...

player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL), primarily with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

. The 1950 graduate of Decatur High School became an All-American playing

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 o ...

for the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Ramblin' Wreck ...

before his NFL career. "The Brahma Bull" was named one of the linebackers on the

NFL 1960s All-Decade Team This is a list of National Football League (NFL) players who had outstanding performances throughout the 1960s and have been compiled together into this fantasy group. The team was selected by voters of the Pro Football Hall of Fame at the end of t ...

. He was sentenced to probation for his role in the Savings and loan crisis.

College career

Morris was a four-year starter and a two-way player at center and linebacker positions for the

. Morris was also selected as three times first-team All-SEC and a team captain as a senior. He played during coach Bobby Dodd's most successful seasons at Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets had a 40-5-2 record over Morris’ four seasons, won two SEC titles, four bowl games and a share of the 1952 national championship with a 12–0 record. In his final game as a Yellow Jacket against rival

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

on November 27, 1954, he played the entire game and was credited with 24 tackles as his team won 7–3. He was later named to the All-SEC 25-year team spanning 1950–1974 and in 1992 was inducted into 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 vot ...

, one of 12 Tech players there.

Professional career

Morris was the seventh overall pick of the 1955 NFL draft. He was named one of the linebackers on the

. Morris played 12 seasons total with the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams pla ...

, and

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined t ...

. He was the MVP of the

1963 NFL Championship Game The 1963 NFL Championship Game was the 31st annual championship game, played on December 29 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. The game pitted the visiting New York Giants (11–3) of the Eastern Conference against the Chicago Bears (11� ...

for the Bears. In addition, he was a member of the Atlanta Falcons' first-team in 1966.

Savings & Loan crisis conviction

Morris was indicted and received probation during the Savings and loan crisis. As a licensed Atlanta real estate agent, two top corporate executives of First Mutual Savings in Pensacola, Florida, took illegal kickbacks causing his condos and rehabs loans to go bad.

Health concerns

Morris was featured in an article in The Sporting News about former football players who had head injuries that happened during their career. According to the article, Morris had little, if any, recollection of his playing days.

Death

Larry Cleo Morris died on December 19, 2012. A native Atlantan, he spent his last few years, since 2009, under nursing home care, at Presbyterian Village, in the city of

Austell, Georgia Austell is a city in Cobb and Douglas Counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 7,713. History The area that is now Austell was frequented by game h ...

. His brain was donated by his family to Boston University for the study of brain injuries associated with former professional football players.

References

External links

Larry Morris statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Larry 1933 births 2012 deaths People from Austell, Georgia Sportspeople from Cobb County, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players All-American college football players American football players with chronic traumatic encephalopathy College Football Hall of Fame inductees Los Angeles Rams players Atlanta Falcons players Chicago Bears players Deaths from dementia in Georgia (U.S. state)