One of the top football players in Western Guilford High School History Gone:Glenn Morris leader and excellent athlete Gone Way Too Soon, at age 58(Remembering “The Rabbit”)

Glenn Morris passed away on Monday…He will go down as the top football players to ever come out of Western Guilford High School….He was All-Conference, All-County, All-State, he played and started for coach Ed Emory, at East Carolina University, he went on to play for Jim Mora and the Philadelphia Stars of the United States Football League/USFL…

Glenn Morris was a football star and he got his start in the Collins Grove community, out off of Lewiston Road, near Fleming Road and he was part of a very large Morris family…

There was Glenn, his older brothers Steve, Greg, John and Norman, then his younger brother Philip…There were right at six or seven of the Morris brothers, and Glenn was the top athlete of them all….His brother John was close, but Glenn exceeded John’s accomplishments and they both were great brothers and probably the closest two, of the family members…

I remember one Summer when I saw Glenn and John at a country store in our neighborhood, and when they first pulled up on their bicycles to Burke’s Store, I didn’t know who they were…The Morrises, as I mentioned earlier, lived in the Collins Grove Community, where they were avid and active members of the Collins Grove Methodist Church, and the Morris’ home was about a mile and a-half from where I lived, as you went across Marvin Staley’s corn field and the Morris brothers had taken the paved road more traveled, to Burke’s Store to get a drink and some snacks…

Like I was saying, I didn’t even recognize them that day, since they had gone for the extreme Summer haircuts and the Morris brothers, Glenn and John, had NO hair at all….They had shaved their heads, as a way to stay cool and battle the Summer heat….At first, I wasn’t sure who they were, but with a few minutes of talk, I could tell it was John and Glenn….That is the one image of those two brothers that will never be erased from my super memory bank….You can’t take away photos in your mind, that stand out like that one did….(We were all right around the age of 11 or 12 back then.)

John and Glenn went a long way from those humble Collins Grove beginnings, back when the Morris Family, the Fitzgeralds, the Lindseys, the Millers, the Gilmers, they all were the cornerstones of that Collins Grove Community…

And Glenn Morris came out of that community and he became a football star at Western Guilford High School…Football, Basketball, Baseball, Track and Field….Glenn Morris had them all down…He and his brother John could throw a discus a “country mile”….Glenn just had that knack to excel in sports…..

But the sport where Glenn really excelled was football…An All-County linebacker as sophomore, then he led his WG Hornets team to the 3-A football State Championship in 1977, went on an started at ECU, then hit the pros, with the Philadelphia Stars….

As a senior in high school, Glenn Morris at Western Guilford, and Darrell Nicholson at North Forsyth High School, were considered the top linebackers in the state of North Carolina, for the year/season of 1977…Both were chosen to play for the West, in the East-West All-Star Game, and Glenn went on to excel at ECU and Darrell Nicholson left his mark, as a linebacker for the North Carolina Tar Heels….

Glenn was a super strong and quick LB, plus he was a very solid running back, from the fullback position…He and Darrell Harris gained some large chunks of yardage, while manning the Western Guilford backfield, along with Glenn’s brother John, back in 1975…..Glenn’s nickname and I don’t know how I pulled this one out of my hat, but it just came to me while I was writing this piece, Glenn’s nickname was “Rabbit”….Good speed indeed

And Godspeed to Glenn’s family in the loss of Glenn Morris…The only reason I can write so much about Glenn and his brother John is that I was right there with them…Similar football skill and ability, but just playing different positions…We used to love to compete back in those days and see who could take their game to the highest level, and for some reason, John and Glenn just kept climbing and Glenn got right up at that the top tier, Glenn was up there at the top spot….

Glenn Morris, a Western Guilford football champion for back in 1977 and now gone today at just 58 years of age….That seems way too soon…Glenn back in his Western days, leading that Hornet Defense and Aaron Stewart, leading the Hornet offense to the ’77 State Title…Others of quick memory from that team were Mark Bryant, who just passed away this past Summer, Rufus Webster, Wes Needham, Mike Stutts, Elmo Gower, Lewis Rowland, and many more that will pop up as the days move by/on…

Glenn Morris was the real deal and we got to see him play, back in the day and then Glenn got to see his son play for the Grimsley Whirlies, when Grimsley went for the NCHSAA 4-A Football title back in 2005, in a Noon game, at Keenan Stadium, in Chapel Hill…The Grimsley Whirlies vs. Greenville Rose and Glenn’s son Jon Morris, was a starting running back for the Whirlies….

Glenn won a state football title and then got to see his son Jon, go for the title, while at Grimsley HS…You really can’t ask for more than that…

Please read on, as we “Remember the Rabbit”….

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Glenn Morris, 58, passed away September 30, 2019 at his residence.

Arrangements are pending.

Services entrusted to Hargett Funeral Service, Inc.
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2018 Hall of Fame Athlete: Glenn Morris – Class of 1978

Lettered 9 times as a student-athlete at Western Guilford: Basketball (3), Baseball (2), Track and Field (2), Football (2).

Track and Field: 2-Time All-Conference * 2-Time All-County * 2-Time All-Region * 2-Time All-State * 1977 NCHSAA State Champion in the Discus, set a new Regional and WGHS record with a throw of 171.9 feet.

Football: As a senior, Played inside linebacker on the 1977 NCHSAA 3-A State Championship Team * Named WGHS Lineman of the Year * All-Conference * Honorable Mention Prep All-American * Played in the North Carolina East-West All Star Game * Played in the 1977 Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas Game.

Glenn was a 3-year starter at inside linebacker for East Carolina University where he amassed a total of 227 career tackles * After his college career concluded, Glenn played with Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League and the Philadelphia Stars of the United States Football League.
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One thought on “One of the top football players in Western Guilford High School History Gone:Glenn Morris leader and excellent athlete Gone Way Too Soon, at age 58(Remembering “The Rabbit”)

  1. Not only was Glen a great player, he was a great person and will be missed by many in the Western Guilford Community. When I was young, I remember me and many of my friends who played pee wee football for the Guilford Steelers would get as close to the locker room exit door as we could after Western games, hoping to get a glimpse of our hero’s from that 1977 team as they left with their letter jackets on. Glen was the ultimate player and a guy we all looked up too. He is gone too soon.

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