Long-time Assumption SID Steve Morris passes away

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Steve Morris, the long-time Sports Information Direction at Assumption College.

Courtesy of David Alexander, The College of Saint Rose:

There are few dates on any of our sports schedules at The College of Saint Rose that I ever personally looked forward to more than any other. One exception was Assumption College. Steve Morris was the Assistant A.D. for Media Relations there. Actually, he was more than that. He was synonymous with Assumption and encompassed all the virtues the renowned institution holds true for some 40 years.

Thus, a week out of any competition between my Golden Knights and his Greyhounds provided me with a built-in opportunity to catch up with “Merc”, as he was affectionately known. It was always a phone call, never an e-mail, because I wanted it to be at least a bit personal, and naturally get his latest take on our beloved Red Sox and/or Patriots.

The last time I had such a conversation with Steve was back in mid-November when our schools played their respective basketball league openers against each other. I will miss those chats, but I’ll miss something more when we have our next game against Assumption. I’ll miss a good friend, a phenomenal colleague, and an even better person.

The following article appeared in Wednesday's Worcester Telegram & Gazette, written by 2010 ECAC-SIDA Media Award winner, Jennifer Toland:

WORCESTER —  The back door to Steve Morris' office was always open. There was no need to knock, an appointment was never necessary, everyone was welcome. And through the years, thousands of Assumption College student-athletes, who opportunely had to pass by the school's sports information headquarters to get to the nearby locker rooms, took Morris up on the obvious invitation.

“You'd always see him in there and stop and say hello, joke around or he'd tell you a story,” Assumption senior basketball player Mike Baldarelli said.

“It's going to be different.”

Morris, known as “Merc” in his Assumption family, died last night in his Worcester home. He was 60.
Morris, who grew up in Shrewsbury, graduated from St. John's High in 1968 and from Assumption in 1972. He was a statistician for the men's basketball team during his four years as a student at Assumption. Legendary Assumption basketball coach and athletic director Andy Laska hired Morris to join the athletic department after graduation and soon promoted him to sports information director, a position he held for almost 40 years.

“That was one of the best moves I ever made,” Laska said fondly. “He was the ideal SID. He did so much for the school. No one did more to publicize the school or the athletes than Steve.”

Morris had an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Assumption, a zeal for statistics, a knack for storytelling, a passion for sports and most of all a love for all the kids, almost four decades worth, who came in and out of that door.

“He had tremendous personal relationships with our student-athletes,” men's basketball coach Serge DeBari said. “He remained constantly in contact with players from the past; not just basketball, he loved every Assumption athletic team and he reveled in their success.”

Morris, who had some health concerns in recent years, began experiencing flu-like symptoms about two weeks ago and had been out of work. A number of people who attended the men's and women's basketball doubleheader against Bentley on Jan. 15 at Laska Gym became a bit alarmed when they didn't see Morris in his usual spot at the scorer's table.

“He was a fixture at Assumption,” said Tim Connolly, a 1977 Assumption graduate who worked with Morris on the college's Athletic Hall of Fame committee. “No matter what time of day, if you were on campus you'd see his van with the ‘MERC72' license plate in his parking spot next to Laska Gym.”

No one, Laska said, spent more time in Laska Gym than Morris.

“He practically lived there,” Laska said.

Connolly, the communications director for the Worcester District Attorney's Office and a former Telegram & Gazette reporter, was one of many Assumption students to work in Morris' office, honing his writing and marketing skills.

“He gave me some valuable advice,” Connolly said.

Morris helped a number of others in their careers as well.

In later years, Morris gave new work-study students an added responsibility – dusting his collection of about 700 mugs from colleges, universities and sports teams that lined the shelves of his office.
Jim Mullen, Assumption's assistant athletic director of operations and one of Morris' best friends, said at one point Morris had all the mugs inventoried and arranged alphabetically.

The closet of Morris' office is filled with boxes of old scorebooks, some dating back to the 1950s. Statistics and other information are now, of course, just a click away, but sometimes it was faster just to ask Merc.

“When I played there, it was before the Internet, before all the instant access,” said Assumption Hall of Famer Ann McInerney '89. “But Merc always knew. He always knew everything, he always remembered everything. He was a wealth of knowledge and a great supporter of student-athletes. What he did wasn't his job, it was his passion.”

Morris was a Red Sox and Patriots season-ticket holder. He, Mullen and Fr. Ed Chalmers, pastor at St. Stephen's Church in Worcester and one of Morris' closest friends, were a longtime traveling trio to the old Foxboro Stadium.

Iconic Assumption basketball coach Joe O'Brien gave Morris his nickname, after Miami Dolphins running back Mercury Morris, one day in physical education class.

It stuck.

Morris was well-respected among sports information directors across the country and served as a mentor to many in the profession.

“We'd be at dinners, conventions, and everyone would gravitate to him,” Mass. Maritime and former Nichols SID Jim Seavey said. “No one in this business did more for student-athletes than Merc. As good an SID he was, he was a better person. The world is a much sadder place today.”

At Morris' request, there are no formal funeral arrangements. Assumption director of athletics Ted Paulauskas said an on-campus memorial service will be held, likely in March.

“It will be a celebration,” Paulauskas said. “This was a person who was 100 percent invested his entire adult life in Assumption. He lived and breathed it. You go through the athletic experience and sometimes teams are good and sometimes they're not so good. He always found a way to see something positive – a big hit in a losing baseball game, a great steal when a basketball team got thumped. He was always positive.”

Morris missed those Bentley games, but he quickly received word that the men's team upset the nationally-ranked Falcons, 77-64.

“He was elated,” DeBari said. “If there was one thing about Merc, it was he wanted us to win real bad. He was our biggest fan and that was never, ever in doubt.”

Link: http://www.telegram.com/article/20110125/NEWS/110129853/1116