Johnny Morris (American football)

Johnny Edward Morris (born September 26, 1935) is an American former professional football player who was a flanker and halfback for the Chicago Bears in the National Football League (NFL). He spent his entire ten-year career with the Bears, and is the franchise's all-time leader in receiving yards with 5,059. He attended the Santa Barbara College (now University of California, Santa Barbara). Morris won an NFL championship in 1963. In 1964, he had his best season with 93 receptions for 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Sportscaster career

In 1964, while still playing for the Bears, Morris joined WBBM-TV in Chicago as a sportscaster. Except for a six-year stint at rival WMAQ-TV, Morris remained at WBBM until 1992, serving for most of that time as sports director. He became good friends with film critic Gene Siskel when Siskel was hired by the station in the 1970s. During his time at WBBM-TV, he popularised the use of the telestrator (a device for drawing over still or moving video images) in sports television, which was invented by fellow WBBM-TV employee Leonard Reiffel for his science-related TV series Dimensions on Tomorrow's Living and The World Tomorrow. He also served as a football color commentator for CBS' NFL coverage from 1975 to 1986. He retired in 1996.

NFL career statistics

Legend
	Won the NFL championship
	Led the league
Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	Games		Receiving					Rushing					Returning
		GP	GS	Rec	Yds	Avg	Lng	TD	Att	Yds	Avg	Lng	TD	Ret	Yds	Avg	Lng	TD
1958	CHI	12	3	11	170	15.5	51	0	52	239	4.6	32	2	30	495	16.5	45	0
1959	CHI	12	12	13	197	15.2	51	2	87	312	3.6	33	0	31	609	19.7	78	1
1960	CHI	12	3	20	224	11.2	66	3	73	417	5.7	61	3	32	459	14.3	32	0
1961	CHI	14	12	36	548	15.2	80	4	8	49	6.1	21	0	25	201	8.0	25	0
1962	CHI	14	14	58	889	15.3	73	5	2	7	3.5	4	0	20	208	10.4	33	0
1963	CHI	13	12	47	705	15.0	51	2	1	10	10.0	10	0	16	164	10.3	42	0
1964	CHI	14	14	93	1,200	12.9	63	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
1965	CHI	14	14	53	846	16.0	80	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
1966	CHI	2	2	5	49	9.8	15	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
1967	CHI	14	12	20	231	11.6	31	1	1	6	6.0	6	0	4	24	6.0	15	0
Career		121	98	356	5,059	14.2	80	31	224	1,040	4.6	61	5	158	2,160	13.7	78	1

Personal life

His father was from Achladokampos, Greece (family name Μονοπορης, or Monoporis), while his mother was Swedish. While playing for the Bears, Morris was known as "Little Greek" and teammate Bill George was "Big Greek".

Morris was married to sports reporter Jeannie Morris, whom he met at UC Santa Barbara, from 1960 to 1985. The two remained close after their divorce as television colleagues. Jeannie died December 14, 2020.

References

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