The ‘Morris Men’ won a combined 554-games and 11-titles between them
Classic Mayfield!
Mayfield, KY: We refer to Mayfield High School as “Mighty Mayfield.” How would you suggest we refer to a program which is the 4th winningest high school football program in the country, the second winningest program in commonwealth history, and enters the ’25 season with a 956-267-32 all time mark, an all-time winning percentage approaching 80% (.761752988), with 13-KHSAA titles? “Mighty” seems apropos.
I have an anecdote about Mayfield which I feel encapsulates the experience as well as any. I was covering a team which went into War Memorial to play the Cardinals one night early in the year in Mayfield.
This team (the “Visitors”) had a lot of pieces returning from a unit which had the 4A titleholder, from the previous year, three scores down in the first quarter of a regional championship game. That prior game was at the 4A champions’ home field, so these guys had some experience playing in hostile environments.
Back to the Mayfield game, the night the team I was covering went there to play “Mighty Mayfield,” War Memorial was stuffed to the gills. There wasn’t a seat in the house.
The team I was covering was down eight, in the second quarter of the contest they felt, to a man, they were still very much contesting. A Mayfield kid got flagged for targeting and ejected.
As that kid was leaving the field, he started beating his breast and extorting the crowd to get on their feet and cheer on the Cardinals. What came from the home grandstand can only be described as a pulse of sound, energy, and (mostly) intimidation. This “pulse” shook the playing surface and grandstand to its studs.
One of the players looked at me, on the ride home, and said, “After that guy did that, I looked around our huddle and we were through. The fear, and the degree to which that had intimidated us, was something we could neither mask nor counter. I mean, it was over, man; right then! You could see it in our eyes.”
I looked around our huddle, and we were through…
Mayfield opponent on what it’s like to play the Cardinals at War Memorial in Mayfield, Kentucky
This kid had nailed it. It was over. I could see it from the sideline.
Mayfield beat the ever-loving, dog-crap out of the team I was covering. It had gone from a relatively tight game to a rout like a locomotive caroms, down a hill, sans breaks.
If you want to know what it is like to play Mayfield at Mayfield; we can try to tell you. Well, that story we just told you; that’s what it’s like.
If you want to know which two men are largely responsible for building such a high school football monstrosity, it would be the “Fabulous Morris Men.” The father/son duo also known as Jack and Joe Morris, they are the carpenters of the house. If they didn’t construct the residence they darn sure “framed it out” mighty well.
We would be the first to tell you the subjects of this piece warrant separate articles. Both Jack and Joe Morris are National High School Hall of Fame inductees.
That being said, they won’t mind the joint reference. They are father and son and Joe played for Jack.
Games at War Memorial are often over before you can get off your bus…
Friday Night Fletch
I don’t know whether you remember the 1989 American Ron-com, musical, The Fabulous Baker Boys. It was both written and directed by Steve Kloves.
The film follows a piano act consisting of two brothers (played by real life brothers, Jeff and Beau Bridges). They hire an attractive singer (Michelle Pfeiffer) to revive their waning careers.
The younger brother falls for the singer. All heck breaks loose.
All of that has little to do with The Fabulous Morris Men, apart from Jack and Joe Morris being father and son and having a consanguine relation similar, but not exactly like, the brothers Bridges. Oh yeah, the Fabulous part is dead-on in both cases, the movie and the Morrises.
The Fabulous Morris Men may be more famous than The Fabulous Baker Boys, Hollywood stardom aside. Around Mayfield, Kentucky, there is no question which pair is the more famous.
The “Fabulous Morris Men” are more famous than “The Fabulous Baker Boys” at least around Mayfield
Friday Night Fletch
Jack spent 24-years on the Mayfield sideline. While coaching “Mighty Mayfield,” Jack won 31-consecutive games from 1977-1979, won four KHSAA titles (modest by Morris family standards), and played for the title on five other occasions.
Jack’s career record was 254-50-2. He was inducted into both the Dawahares KHSAA and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Halls of Fame.
Jack once told Mike Fields for the KHSAA.org, “Our kids believe they’re better than anybody. So, if you’re going to beat us, you have to be better than we, I guarantee you that.”
Joe played for his dad, Jack. Though undersized, Joe was a monster at linebacker. Joe was both selected and played admirably in the Tennessee/Kentucky All-Star game back in the day.
…if you’re going to beat us, you have to be better than we,…
Jack Morris
Joe was even a better coach than player. When it comes to numbers, Joe takes a back seat to no one.
In 25 seasons, Joe finished with a record of 300-56. For the math-whiz types, that is a winning percentage of .842696629.
Of those seasons, the Cardinals made 21 trips to the state semifinals, played in 14 state championships, and won seven (7) KHSAA championships.
Towards the end, at the time Joe was retiring, he told one reporter the following:
“I’ve taken in more as far as, walking down the old tunnel at War Memorial Stadium,” Morris said. “I look around and look up into the stands a little bit more, taking more things in.”
You would think “winning” was the emphasis for someone who did so much of it. However, like so many legends we have before featured, the wins off the field outweighed the wins on the field.
“One of the most rewarding things is seeing players that have been successful after they left…,” Joe Morris was before quoted as saying. “Whether they are engineers, business owners, doctors, lawyers, they all have come back. I [have] had several of them reach out to me…and that is special.”
Joe Morris was inducted into the National High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2022, like his father before him. We figure Joe will join Jack in the Dawahares KHSAA Hall of Fame as soon as Joe gains eligibility.
Joe just retired from active coaching following the ’23 season (13-1). If his résumé isn’t Hall of Fame-worthy, then I am not quite sure what is.
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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