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 (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

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in the

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(NFL), primarily with the

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. The 1950 graduate of Decatur High School became an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

playing

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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, United States. The teams have also been nicknamed the ...

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 ...

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 Robert Lee Dodd (November 11, 1908 – June 21, 1988) was an American college football player and coach, college baseball coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Georgia Tech from 1945 to 1966, compili ...

'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

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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 Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

, 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 Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

, 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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

. 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 The savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s (commonly dubbed the S&L crisis) was the failure of approximately a third of the savings and loan associations (S&Ls or thrifts) in the United States between 1986 and 1995. These thrifts were b ...

. 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

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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 County 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 Game hunters and trappers frequently went through the area that is ...

. His brain was donated by his family to Boston University for the study of brain injuries associated with former professional football players. An autopsy confirmed that Morris had the neural degenerative disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is caused by repeated hits to the head. He is one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is caused by repeated hits to the head.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Larry 1933 births 2012 deaths Players of American football from Austell, Georgia Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players All-American college football players Players of American football 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)