ACU’s Morrow Doubled Twice, Set WRs
Bobby Morrow of Abilene Christian had a simple answer after running a world record in the heats of the 1957 NCAA Championships.
“I had to win it,” Morrow explained. “If you win you get that choice middle lane for the finals.”
A triple Olympic gold medalist the previous fall, Morrow was placed in the same NCAA 100-yard heat as Western Michigan’s Ira Murchison, a fellow Olympic relay gold medalist, as well as superb starter (some called him the “Human Sputnik”). Most race accounts have Murchison blasting to an immediate lead that he held until about 80 yards, at which point Morrow rocketed past to victory in 9.3, equal to the world record and a new meet record*. Murchison, who felt Morrow did not pass him until the last 5 yards, was also clocked in 9.3.
“Murch got out on me – he always does,” Morrow told the press afterwards. “Of course, if he hadn’t gotten that start on me I might have relaxed and done no good at all.”
Morrow won the NCAA final in 9.4 (overcoming another great start by Murchison), then completed his second-straight NCAA sprint double by winning the 220 in 21.0.
His first NCAA sprint double also featured a world record – this time at 200 meters, as he won easily and tied the world record of 20.6 (He would end the 1956 season with three such times as WRs). However, his 100 victory captured more attention, avenging a loss at the Drake Relays to Duke’s Dave Sime that ended Morrow’s 31-race winning streak.
Morrow – a native of San Benito, Texas (near Brownsville at the southern tip of Texas) – was Abilene Christian’s first NCAA champion in any sport, but he didn’t arrive on the NCAA scene unannounced. As a freshman in 1955, he collected the first of three 100-200 doubles at the NAIA Championships, winning the century in a wind-aided 9.1 – equal to the fastest-ever recorded at the time, under any conditions.
Morrow passed away on May 30 at age 84.
*The race broke a significant logjam of legends having a share of the oldest meet record then on the books – 9.4 set in 1929 by George Simpson and equaled by Frank Wykoff (1930), Ralph Metcalfe (1933) and Jesse Owens (1936), all WRs at the time by stars already who’ve been featured in our series of great NCAA moments. That 9.4 MR was untouched until Morrow’s 9.3 in 1957.
The NCAA and collegiate track & field will mark a momentous milestone in the spring of 2021 -- the 100th anniversary of the NCAA Championships and with that, the NCAA Track & Field Championships. In June 1921, the University of Chicago hosted the first track & field championships in NCAA history.
This point can’t be emphasized enough: Not only was the event the first for NCAA track & field, but the first championships for any sport under the sponsorship of the NCAA.
To celebrate, over each of the next 365 days, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) will celebrate moments, student-athletes, and coaches that have made a century’s worth of championships special. From humble beginnings to important historical milestones to the modern-day, collegiate track & field has evolved with the American society.
The 2021 edition of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships begin with preliminary round action on May 27-29 in Jacksonville, Fla., and College Station, Texas. The championships final site and culmination of the celebration is slated for June 9-12, 2021 at the newly rebuilt Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
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