Member Biography

Ray Morrison was a born leader, a characteristic which was apparent from the very first days of his collegiate career. As an All-Southern Conference quarterback at Vanderbilt (1908- 1911), Morrison helped Vandy log a 30-6-2 record. He was head coach at Southern Methodist (1915-1916, 1922-1934), Vanderbilt (1918, 1935-1939), Temple (1940-1948) and Austin (1949-1951). Morrison's coaching star reached its zenith in the mid-1920s at SMU, as his 1923 Mustangs finished 9-0-0 and his 1926 edition finished at 8-0-1. His best Temple teams went 7-2 in 1941 and 7-1 in 1945. At Southern Methodist 1922-1934 he had a record of 82-31-20 and was known as the author of the "aerial circus." His teams broke tradition by using the forward pass on any down and from any field position. As a player, he was named quarterback on the all-time Southeastern area team for the pre-1920 period. As a coach he was elected president of the American Football Coaches Association and served on the rules committee. After his coaching career ended, he served 11 years as Southern Methodist Vice-President for Development. He died November 19, 1982, at age 97.