Eugene Edward "Mercury" Morris (January 5, 1947 – September 21, 2024) 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

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

and kick returner. He played for eight years, primarily for the

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, in the

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(AFL) as a rookie in 1969 then in the

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(AFC) following the

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with the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Morris played in three

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s, winning twice, and was selected to three

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

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 pled no contest to cocaine conspiracy charges.

Amateur career

Born in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, on January 5, 1947, 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

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 ...

for the Buffaloes at tailback in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

and

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

. In 1967, he finished second in the nation to O. J. Simpson of

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

in rushing yards with 1,274. 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. Simpson broke the single-season rushing record just one week after Morris set it. Morris's three-season career rushing record was broken two years later by Don McCauley. After college, Morris was picked in the

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of the 1969 AFL-NFL Common Draft by the AFL's

Professional football career

Early career

Morris excelled as both a

and kick returner. The majority of his playing days were spent with the Miami Dolphins. From 1969 to 1971, he backed up Jim Kiick at halfback and served as the Dolphins' primary kickoff return man. In his rookie year of 1969, Morris averaged 26.4 yards per kickoff return, leading the AFL in kickoff returns with 43 and in kickoff return yardage with 1136. Both totals would have also led the NFL. His 105-yard return was the longest in the AFL that season, and he was also one of the AFL's leading

punt return Punt or punting may refer to: Boats * Punt (boat), a flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow developed on the River Thames * Falmouth Quay Punt, a small sailing vessel hired by ships anchored in Falmouth harbour * Norfolk Punt, a type of racing ...

ers that year. In 1970, he missed some time on the field due to a leg injury, but his 6.8 yard per carry average on 60 runs was the highest in the league among players with at least 50 runs.

Super Bowl years

In 1971, despite being unhappy with his minimal playing time as backup halfback, he helped the Dolphins to their first Super Bowl, Super Bowl VI, by leading the

(AFC) with a 28.2 yard kickoff return average. During the regular season, Morris also made the most of his opportunities at running back, gaining 315 rushing yards on 57 carries for a 5.5 yard average, an average that would have led the NFL if he had enough carries to qualify. That season, Morris was selected for the

for the first time as a kick returner, although he also was used as a running back in the game. In the 1972 and 1973 seasons, Morris earned Super Bowl rings in Super Bowl VII and Super Bowl VIII and was selected for the Pro Bowl in both years. In 1972, he shared the halfback position with Kiick, participating in fewer plays than Kiick but having more carries as a running back. That year, he ran for exactly 1,000 yds on 190 carries, becoming, with teammate Larry Csonka, the first 1,000-yard tandem in NFL history. Morris was first thought to have finished with 991 yards but the Dolphins' management asked the league to examine a play in which Morris fumbled a lateral so he was awarded the nine yards previously recorded as lost on the play, giving him 1,000 yards for the season. That year, Morris also led the NFL with 12 rushing

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s and his 5.3 yard per carry average was third in the NFL. By 1973, Morris had taken over the starting halfback spot and rushed for 954 yards on 149 carries, despite playing with a neck injury late in the season. His 6.4 yard per carry average led the NFL that season, and he finished third in the NFL in rushing touchdowns. Morris excelled in several playoff games leading up to Miami's two Super Bowl victories. In 1972, he led the Dolphins in rushing in both the divisional playoff game against

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and the AFC Championship Game against

with 72 yards and 76 yards respectively. In 1973, he led the Dolphins in rushing for the divisional playoff game against

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with 106 yards and added 86 more rushing yards in the AFC Championship Game against Oakland.

Late career

Morris continued playing for the Dolphins in 1974 and 1975, before spending the last season of his shortened career playing for the

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in 1976. In 1974 a knee injury Morris suffered in the preseason limited him to five regular season games that year. Morris missed the season opener and returned for the second game of the season, but then reinjured the knee in game 3. After playing three more games in November and December he suffered a neck injury and reinjured the knee, effectively ending his season. In 1975, Morris led the Dolphins in rushing yards, with 875, despite sharing the halfback position with Benny Malone. After being traded to San Diego before the 1976 season, he ran for 256 yards on 50 carries that year and decided to retire after the season, in part due to lingering difficulties from the neck injury suffered in a 1973 game against the

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and reinjured in a car accident. 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 fullbacks

Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (February 17, 1936 – May 18, 2023) was an American professional American football, football player, civil rights activist, and actor. He played as a Fullback (gridiron football), fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the ...

and Marion Motley. As of 2017, he ranked sixth all time behind Brown, Motley, running back Jamaal Charles and quarterbacks

Michael Vick Michael Dwayne Vick (born June 26, 1980) is an American college football coach and former player who is the Head coach, head football coach at Norfolk State Spartans football, Norfolk State University. He played quarterback in the National F ...

and Randall Cunningham. 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. As of 2017 he was ranked 18th.

Post-football career

In 1974, Morris co-starred as Bookie Garrett in the

blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...

film '' The Black Six'' alongside other football stars of the day. In 1982, Morris was convicted of

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

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 The Supreme Court of Florida is the state supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven justices—one of whom serves as Chief Justice. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geog ...

because evidence he had offered to prove his

entrapment Entrapment is a practice in which a law enforcement agent or an agent of the state induces a person to commit a crime that the person would have otherwise been unlikely or unwilling to commit.''Sloane'' (1990) 49 A Crim R 270. See also agent prov ...

defense had been excluded under a mistaken characterization as

hearsay Hearsay, in a legal forum, is an out-of-court statement which is being offered in court for the truth of what was asserted. In most courts, hearsay evidence is Inadmissible evidence, inadmissible (the "hearsay evidence rule") unless an exception ...

. Morris was granted a new trial. He was able to reach a

plea bargain A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...

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

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where he talked about his time in prison. After being released from prison, Morris later went on to a career as a motivational speaker. Morris died on September 21, 2024, at the age of 77. He was survived by five children and three sisters.

NFL career statistics

Source:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Mercury 1947 births 2024 deaths American football running backs American motivational speakers Miami Dolphins players San Diego Chargers players West Texas A&M Buffaloes football players American Conference Pro Bowl players Players of American football from Pittsburgh American drug traffickers American people convicted of drug offenses American sportspeople convicted of crimes American Football League players