 Glenn Morris was born on June 18, 1912, in Simla, Colorado. He was the second oldest child of Mr. and Mrs. John Morris in a family of seven children. He was born in the Morris home on the family's self-sufficient horse ranch. Typical of farming youths, Glenn was put to work doing chores as soon as he was large enough to carry pails and do odd jobs. Glenn's youth was uneventful as far as extraordinary activities were concerned. Glenn did develop a good deal of coordination as he grew older by chasing horses:
“Glenn Morris.... inherited his share of jobs at home. Somehow he managed to turn most of them into conditioning drills, like sprinting to quick stops and starts in rounding up wayward horses,” wrote Ralph Moore in The Denver Post.
Glenn Morris attended Simla High School where his athletic career was impressive. He played end in football, starred in basketball, and was a standout in track and field. His 220 yard low hurdle record stood for over 40 years. "He was all-everything in high school. By the time he got to Fort Collins though, there were quite a few guys around who had been that all-everything, especially if they came from a small town,” Moore reported.
In the fall of 1930, Glenn enrolled at Colorado Agricultural College, Fort Collins, now known as Colorado State University. During fall football, "Coach Harry Hughes hooted with joy," wrote Moore. "I knew he was a gem. I could see he was quick, coordinated and had a hair-trigger mind."
Morris played four years at Colorado Agricultural College where he was named all-conference in football in 1933 and 1934. He lettered in football, basketball, and track, according to Morris Ververs. His track career was spectacular within the state of Colorado.
“In 1933 and again in 1934 he was first in the conference low hurdles and placed in the highs. In the eastern division meet of 1934 he ran the preliminaries and finally in the hurdles, winning both, then tied for first in the high jump, placed in the shot and discus, and then he ran one leg of the mile relay,” Moore stated.
Morris first considered the decathlon in 1932 while a spectator at the Los Angeles Olympic Games. “`I might try that,' he thought to himself," wrote James E. Hansen. The decathlon, he discovered, stressed all-around athletic prowess, not the mastery of a specific skill. "Although his performances were good, they hardly approached world class caliber, and prospects for a track career beyond college did not seem promising,” Hansen added.
After his graduation in 1934, Morris competed for the Denver Athletic Club, while at the same time he earned a living as an assistant to Coach Hughes, and a part time automobile dealer. Morris drove himself to higher levels of skill through hard work and determination. "In good weather or bad, on holidays and even when he felt tired or ill, Morris could be found at the Colorado Field or at the College Gymnasium," said Hansen. Coach Hughes, who was an inspiration to Morris, would give Morris encouragement or a technical suggestion, "but it was Morris who drove himself onward, enduring the boredom and pain."
Morris's first decathlon was the Kansas Relays. The 6'1", 183 pound Morris established marks that broke Bausch's Relays' record. While some followers of the sport were surprised, Morris was not. Payton Jorden stated of Morris: “Morris was a great competitor with a lot of ability. He trained for the decathlons. He knew the technical aspects of all the events. His main reason for success was that he was better trained for the decathlon.”
Two months later on June 26 and 27, in Milwaukee, the Olympic track and field trials were held. Morris's second decathlon found him victorious; however, the victory was a hard fought one. Robert Clark, of the San Francisco Athletic Club, challenged Morris down to the last event. Glenn won with a world record score of 7,880 points. Newsweek called Morris the nation's new "Iron Man."
Despite his record breaking performances and first place finishes, the Colorado youth was not the pre-Games favorite for the decathlon; Hans Sievert was.
“The Berlin Games were indeed enveloped by drama and excitement, but for Glenn Morris, competition in the decathlon initially proved disappointing; ill health had prevented the entry of Hans Sievert, the German champion,” wrote James Hansen.
Morris gained eight pounds while in transit to the Games aboard the USS Manhattan. While the training facilities at Berlin were good, he caught a cold "which settled in my muscles and I was too tensed up to work out for two days," quoted Ralph Moore. The decathlon began on August 7. Morris's chief competitor was Clark who got off to a good start. At the end of five events he led Morris by a scant 2 points: 4194 to 4192.
Morris's superiority in the hurdles was evident as he raced off to a fast 14.9. With renewed confidence Glenn charged into the next four events. Moore reported: "A Hitler youth demonstration delayed the start of the 1,500 meter run and Morris said he used the 90 minute break to `relax and consult my (scoring) book.'”
Morris calculated that in order for him to break the world and Olympic record he would have to run a 4:35 in the 1,500 meters. This would be 15 seconds faster than he had ever run the event.
“I was drawn in the third heat and had lane no. 2,” Morris told Ralph Moore. “I knew I had to get the pole position so I took a crouching start like a sprinter and got out in front the first 30 yards. I kept the lead until the fourth lap when a fellow from the Netherlands passed me about 200 yards from the finish. Now I heard the tremendous crows cheering...pulling for me, so I took him on the last turn and out sprinted him to the tape.”
Morris ran 4 minutes 33.2 seconds in the 1,500 meters. His point total was a new Olympic and world record, 7,900 points, and he became the fourth American athlete to win the decathlon. He led the United States delegation to the first sweep of the medal by any country; Clark took second and Parker took third.
Glenn Morris's Olympic decathlon marks were as follows: 100 meters, 11.1; long jump, 22'10.5”; shot put, 46'3”; high jump, 6'7/8”; 400 meters. 49.4; high hurdles, 14.9; discus, 141'1.5”; pole vault, 11'5.5"; javelin, 178'10”; 1,500 meters, 4:33.2.
The 24 year old Colorado youth was proclaimed the "World's Greatest Athlete." His homecoming in New York was a ticker tape parade while in Colorado it was a statewide affair.
“Colorado thrilled to the triumph of its native son,” wrote James Hansen. “Wednesday, September 9, 1936, was proclaimed “Glenn Morris' Day” by Governor Ed Johnson. Colorado school children received a holiday, and a motorcade wound down Sixteenth Street as the champion, flanked by Governor Johnson and Denver Mayor Benjamin Stapleton, waved to the crowds. During the afternoon10,000 people gathered at the University of Denver Stadium to hear tributes made to Morris from Harry Hughes, President Lory, and others, and to watch as the Olympian provided a demonstration of decathlon events. This occasion received national radio coverage over N.B.C.”
In October 1936 Morris signed a contract with N.B.C. to be a radio commentator, but the career never went beyond a few shows. In January 1937, Morris married Charlotte Edwards, also from Colorado. The marriage ended in divorce four years later.
Later in January, Morris was voted the James E. Sullivan Memorial Trophy.
Time magazine reported, “The lists of compliments with which the committee always accompanies its gifts, decathloner Morris, who got 1,106 votes, was characterized as "modest, courageous, helpful, amiable and always willing to abide by decision and rulings...a fine type of sportsman.”
Morris responded to the announcement stating, "Stop kidding me? Where did Owens* finishthen?"
As quickly as the Morris fame flared it seemed to dim. After 1938, Hansen stated, “...subsequent developments were neither glamorous nor happy. Abruptly Morris found himself out of favor as an actor (he had a brief career as Tarzan in the movies). His marriage fell apart. A fling at professional football (with the Detroit Lions) did not succeed. When the United States entered World War II, he enlisted....”
Morris enlisted in the Navy and served in the South Pacific. He saw combat action and was subsequently injured. The exact injury is not known for certain, but Morris Ververs said that his general impression led him to believe that shell shock was the nature of the injury.
After the war, Morris moved his home to California where he found work as a steel rigger for twelve years for the Atomic Energy Commission. From 1957 until approximately 1966 a gap developed in the life of Glenn Morris, Ververs believes that during those nine to ten years Glenn worked as a parking lot attendant, and during this time Glenn may have become an alcoholic. Exact knowledge of where and how long Morris worked during this time is unknown. From 1966 onward Morris's health began a steady decline.
On February 27, 1969, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame "handed out its most prized awards in the grand ballroom of the Denver Hilton Hotel," according to Ralph Moore. Thirty-three years after his Berlin triumph Morris was remembered not only as Colorado's best athlete but also as the world's greatest athlete.
Morris's health had declined from an accumulation of trouble; he could not leave the Haywood Veteran's Hospital because “his legs were so swollen that he could not stand," Ververs said. Morris did not attend the banquet, but he did send the Hall of Fame his gold medal.
Morris spent six years in and out of veteran's hospitals (“He spent more time in than out,” according to Ververs). In Burlingame Veteran's Hospital, Burlingame, California, on February 1, 1973, Glenn Morris died of "congested heart failure, among other complications," reported the Douglas County News. He was buried in the Burlingame Veteran's Cemetery.
In 1975, the Decathlon Association inducted Morris into its first enshrinement to the Decathlon Roll of Honor - Gold Medal Division. Along with Jim Thorpe and Bob Mathias, Morris was undefeated in decathlon competition.
* Jesse Owens was a famous American athlete who was snubbed in Berlin by Adolph Hitler because Owens was black. Owens won three gold medals in the 1936 Olympics, anyway.
This story about Glenn Morris was excerpted from A Brief History of the American Olympic Decathlon Gold Medalists--Traits and Characteristics: 1912-1976, a master's thesis written by Richard Paul Doria Jr. at Western Illinois University in 1980, and is used by permission. Sources used by Mr. Doria included: Democracy's College in the Centennial State, by James E. Hansen, 1977; Morris to be Honored for Fulfilling Olympic Vow, by Ralph Moore in The Denver Post, February 25, 1969; a personal interview with Morris Ververs of Simla, Colorado on March 20, 1980; personal correspondence between Mr. Doria and Payton Jorden, February 1980; Newsweek, July 4, 1936; Frank G. Menke in Track, The Encyclopedia of Sports, A. S. Barnes & Co.,1960; Time, January 11, 1937; Frank Zarnowski in The Decathlon Book--1975, Mount Saint Mary's Seminary Press, 1975. An abbreviated version of this story was published in May 1983, in Our Heritage, Vol. 1, East Central Council of Local Governments, Stratton, CO.
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