Mercury Morris: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
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Line 1: {{Short description|American football player (1947–2024)}} {{Use American English|date=February 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date= {{Infobox NFL biography | image = Mercury Morris 2013.jpg Line 46: '''Eugene Edward''' "'''Mercury'''" '''Morris''' (January 5, 1947 – September 21, 2024) was an American professional [[American football|football]] player who was a [[running back]] and [[kick returner]]. He played for eight years, primarily for the [[Miami Dolphins]], in the [[American Football League]] (AFL) as a rookie in [[1969 Miami Dolphins season|1969]] then in the [[American Football Conference]] (AFC) following the {{nfly|1970}} [[AFL–NFL merger|merger]] with the [[National Football League]] (NFL). Morris played in three [[Super Bowl]]s, winning twice, and was selected to three [[Pro Bowl]]s. In 1982, Morris was convicted of felony [[drug trafficking]] charges. After three and a half years in prison, he was released following a plea agreement in which he == Amateur career == Born in [[Pittsburgh]], [[Pennsylvania]], on January 5, 1947,<ref name=NYTObit>{{cite news |title=Mercury Morris, Elusive Rusher on a Perfect Dolphins Team, Dies at 77 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/22/sports/mercury-morris-dead.html |work=The New York Times |author=Alex Traub |date=September 22, 2024}}</ref> Morris attended [[Avonworth High School]] in the northwestern suburbs of the city. He attended West Texas State University (now [[West Texas A&M University]]) from 1965 to 1969, where he was an [[College Football All-America Team|All-American]] for the [[West Texas A&M Buffaloes football|Buffaloes]] at [[Halfback (American football)|tailback]] in [[1967 College Football All-America Team|1967]] and [[1968 College Football All-America Team|1968]]. In 1967, he finished second in the nation to [[O. In his record setting year of 1968, Morris set collegiate records for rushing yards in a single game, with 340, rushing yards for a single season with 1,571, and rushing yards over a three-year college career (freshmen being ineligible), with 3,388.{{r|Morris_Fiffer|p=44–45}} Simpson broke the single-season rushing record just one week after Morris set it.{{r|Morris_Fiffer|p=44–45}} Morris's three-season career rushing record was broken two years later by [[Don McCauley]].{{r|Morris_Fiffer|p=44–45}} After college, Morris was picked in the [[1969 NFL/AFL draft#Round three|third round]] of the [[1969 NFL/AFL draft|1969 AFL-NFL]] [[Common Draft]] by the [[American Football League|AFL]]'s [[1969 Miami Dolphins season|Miami Dolphins]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nfl.com/news/mercury-morris-legendary-dolphins-rb-and-member-of-undefeated-1972-team-dies-at-77 |title=Mercury Morris, legendary Dolphins RB and member of undefeated 1972 team, dies at 77 |author=Grant Gordon |website=nfl.com |date=September 22, 2024}}</ref> Line 72: === 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]] in 1976. In 1974 a knee injury Morris suffered in the preseason limited him to five regular season games that year.{{r|Morris_Fiffer|p=83}} Morris missed the season opener and returned for the second game of the season, but then reinjured the knee in game 3.<ref>{{cite news|via=newspapers.com|accessdate= Morris finished in the top five of the NFL in rushing touchdowns twice and total touchdowns once during his eight-year career. His career 5.1 yard per carry average was third all time among NFL players (1st among halfbacks), only behind [[fullback (gridiron football)|fullbacks]] [[Jim Brown]] and [[Marion Motley]].<ref name=ypr>{{cite web|title=NFL Yards per Rushing Attempt Career Leaders|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/rush_yds_per_att_career.htm|publisher=Pro-Football-Reference|access-date=March 3, 2017}}</ref> As of 2017, he ranked sixth all time behind Brown, Motley, running back [[Jamaal Charles]] and quarterbacks [[Michael Vick]] and [[Randall Cunningham]].<ref name=ypr /> Morris's career kickoff return average of 26.5 is among the all-time top 20 for players with at least 100 returns, and was in the top 10 at the time of his retirement.<ref name=pfr3>{{cite web |title=Pro-Football-Reference Career Yards per Kick Return Leaders|website=[[Pro-Football-Reference.com]] |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/kick_ret_yds_per_ret_career.htm|access-date=July 20, 2007}}</ref>{{r|Neft_13th|p=784}} As of 2017 he was ranked 18th.<ref name=pfr3 /> == Post-football career == In 1974, Morris co-starred as Bookie Garrett in the [[blaxploitation]] film ''[[The Black Six]]'' alongside other football stars of the day.<ref>{{cite book |title=Against the Grain |author=Eugene "Mercury" Morris with Steve Fiffer |year=1988 |pages=67–69 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=0-07-043195-7}}</ref> In 1982, Morris was convicted of [[cocaine]] trafficking. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, with a mandatory 15-year term. On March 6, 1986, his conviction was overturned by the [[Florida Supreme Court]] because evidence he had offered to prove his [[entrapment]] defense had been excluded under a mistaken characterization as [[hearsay]]. Morris was granted a new trial. He was able to reach a [[plea bargain]] with the prosecutor, resulting in his release from prison on May 23, 1986, after having served three years. He later appeared in an anti-cocaine [[ After being released from prison, Morris later went on to a career as a [[motivational speaker]].<ref name=NYTObit/><ref name=cbs1/> Line 86: ==NFL career statistics== '''Source:'''<ref name=pfr1 /> {| class="wikitable" ! colspan="2"| Legend | |||