John Russell Morrison (born May 2, 1945) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He played in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

for the

Denver Rockets Denver ( ) is a consolidated city and county, the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located in the Western United States, in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains east of ...

at the beginning of the 1967–68 season. Raised in

Roselle Park, New Jersey Roselle Park is a borough in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 13,967, an increase of 670 (+5.0%) from the 2010 census count of 13,297, which in turn reflected ...

, Morrison decided to attend

Seton Hall Preparatory School Seton Hall Preparatory School, generally called Seton Hall Prep, SHP, or "The Prep", is a Roman Catholic all boys' high school located in the suburban community of West Orange in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating under ...

West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from t ...

, rather than the newly opened

Roselle Catholic High School Roselle Catholic High School is a coeducational, Roman Catholic secondary education in the United States, high school, located on a campus in Roselle, New Jersey, Roselle, in Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jers ...

. After the NBA, Morrison became a head coach for

Canisius College Canisius University is a private Jesuit university in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 ma ...

(1972–74) and an assistant for the ABA's Spirits of St. Louis (1974–76).

References

1945 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Union County, New Jersey Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball coaches Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball players College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Denver Rockets draft picks Denver Rockets players Guards (basketball) Seton Hall Preparatory School alumni Spirits of St. Louis coaches St. Louis Hawks draft picks People from Roselle Park, New Jersey {{1940s-US-basketball-bio-stub