Morgan State Bears football | |||
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First season | 1898 | ||
Head coach | Damon Wilson 3rd season, 8–13 (.381) | ||
Stadium | Hughes Stadium (capacity: 10,001) | ||
Field surface | Turf | ||
Location | Baltimore, Maryland | ||
Conference | MEAC | ||
Past conferences | CIAA (1929–1970) | ||
All-time record | 448–444–38 (.502) | ||
Bowl record | 2–3 (.400) | ||
Claimed national titles | 7 (Black College): 1933, 1937, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1949, 1967 | ||
Conference titles | 21 | ||
Rivalries | Howard (rivalry) Towson (rivalry) | ||
Colors | Blue and orange [1] | ||
Mascot | Bears | ||
Website | morganstatebears.com |
The Morgan State Bears football team competes in American football on behalf of Morgan State University. The Bears compete in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision, currently as a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). [2] The Bears play their home games at Hughes Stadium, a 10,000-seat facility in Baltimore.
Morgan State began playing football in 1898, 31 years after the school was founded. The team's all-time record is 405 wins, 379 losses and 38 ties. [3] 173 of those wins came between 1929 and 1959 when Edward P. Hurt was the head coach and the Bears won 14 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) championships. Earl Banks won four CIAA championships during the 1960s and an additional championship in 1971 after Morgan entered the MEAC. The Bears have won three MEAC Championships (1976, 1979 and 2014). [4]
Coach Edward P. Hurt took over the Morgan Bears football team in 1929. The next year his teams won the first of the 14 CIAA championships they would win with him at the helm. More importantly, Hurt, and his assistant coach Talmadge L. Hill, built a program that allowed black athletes to show case their talents where such a venue had been non-existent before. [5] From 1931 to 1938, Hurt coached the Bears to a 54-game win streak without a single loss. [6] During his tenure, Morgan's football teams completed 11 seasons undefeated and, in the 1943 season, opponents failed to score a single point against the Bears. [7] Hurt is a member of the HBCU coaches Hall of Fame [8] and in 1952 Morgan named its new $1 million gymnasium facility after him. [6]
Earl Banks succeeded Hurt and took Morgan football to the next level. Banks was the Head coach from 1960 to 1973. He coached the Bears to a 31-game winning streak, three unbeaten regular seasons, four CIAA titles, a MEAC championship, and four bowl games. Twice during his tenure, Morgan led the nation in total defense. [9] 35 of Bank's players went on to play in the NFL, including Pro Football Hall of Famers Leroy Kelly and Willie Lanier; two more players played professional ball in the CFL. [4] [10] Banks was inducted into five sports Halls of Fame [9] including the College Football Hall of Fame in 1992. [11]
Only two coaches have had winning records at Morgan since the departure of Banks at the end of the 1973 season. The Bears had suffered 23 straight seasons with a losing record until the arrival of former coach Donald Hill-Eley whose first team had a 7–5 record in the 2002 season. Lee Hull was named head coach on January 8, 2014 and his first team would also finish with a 7–5 record, would win a share of the MEAC championship and played in the NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs where they would lose to Richmond in the first round.
Morgan State claims seven Black college football national championships.
Year | Championship | Coach | Overall record | Conference |
---|---|---|---|---|
1933 | Black College National Champions | Edward P. Hurt | 9–0 | CIAA |
1937 | Black College National Champions | 7–0 | ||
1943 | Black College National Champions | 5–0 | ||
1944 | Black College National Champions | 6–1 | ||
1946 | Black College National co-champions | 8–0 | ||
1949 | Black College National co-champions | 8–0 | ||
1967 | Black College National co-champions | Earl Banks | 8–0 |
Morgan State has won 23 conference championships. [13]
Year | Conference | Coach | Overall record |
---|---|---|---|
1930 | CIAA | Edward P. Hurt | 8–1 |
1932 | 7–0–1 | ||
1933 | 9–0 | ||
1934 | 5–0–3 | ||
1935 | 8–0 | ||
1937 | 7–0 | ||
1940 | 7–0–1 | ||
1941 | 6–1 | ||
1942 | 6–1–1 | ||
1943 | 5–0 | ||
1944 | 6–1 | ||
1946 | 8–0 | ||
1949 | 8–0 | ||
1956 | 5–2–1 | ||
1962 | Earl Banks | 8–1 | |
1965 | 9–0 | ||
1966 | 9–0 | ||
1967 | 8–0 | ||
1968 | 8–1 | ||
1971 | Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference | 6–4–1 | |
1976† | Henry Lattimore | 6–4 | |
1979 | Clarence Thomas | 9–2 | |
2014† | Lee Hull | 7–6 |
† co-champions
Morgan State and Howard participate in the Howard–Morgan State football rivalry. [14] [15] [16]
Towson and Morgan State share a rivalry called The Battle for Greater Baltimore. [17] [18]
The Bears have made one appearance in the Division I-AA/FCS playoffs, with a combined record of 0–1.
Year | Round | Opponent | Result |
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2014 | First Round | Richmond | L, 24–46 |
The Bears made one appearance in the Division II playoffs, with a combined record of 0–1.
Year | Round | Opponent | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1979 | Quarterfinals | Alabama A&M | L, 7–27 |
Coach | Tenure | Wins | Losses | Ties |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dr. John Camper | 1920–1923 | 3 | 14 | 1 |
Jim F. Law | 1924–1925 | 6 | 3 | 2 |
Dr. Charles R. Drew | 1926–1927 | 8 | 2 | 2 |
Bill Taylor | 1928 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
Eddie Hurt | 1929–1959 | 173 | 54 | 18 |
Earl Banks | 1960–1973 | 95 | 30 | 2 |
Nat Taylor | 1974–1975 | 9 | 10 | 1 |
Henry Lattimore | 1976–1977 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
Clarence Thomas | 1978–1980 | 17 | 15 | 1 |
Thomas Morris | 1981 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
Nat Taylor | 1982 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
James Phillips | 1983–1984 | 2 | 18 | 0 |
Jesse Thomas | 1985–1987 | 2 | 27 | 0 |
Edmund Wyche | 1988–1990 | 6 | 26 | 1 |
Ricky Diggs | 1991–1995 | 10 | 45 | 0 |
Stump Mitchell | 1996–1998 | 8 | 24 | 1 |
Stanley Mitchell | 1999–2001 | 5 | 27 | 0 |
Donald Hill-Eley | 2002–2013 | 59 | 76 | 0 |
Lee Hull | 2014–2016 | 11 | 12 | 0 |
Fred Farrier | 2016–2017 | 4 | 18 | 0 |
Ernest T. Jones | 2018 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
Tyrone Wheatley | 2019–2021 [lower-alpha 1] | 5 | 18 | 0 |
Damon Wilson | 8 | 13 | 0 |
Fifty three former Morgan players have gone on to play professional football. Thirty nine players went to the NFL, eight to the CFL, three to the WFL and one each to the AAFC, the Arena Football League and the AIFA. At least one player has gone to the NFL every decade since 1950 from Morgan State. [19]
Former Morgan Bears Len Ford, Leroy Kelly, Willie Lanier and Rosey Brown are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Legend |
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†Member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame |
Alfnzo Graham: SIgned to Stelers in 2022
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern and the Mid-Atlantic United States. It participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, and in football, in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, whose member institutions consist entirely of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Morgan State University is a public historically black research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 1890, the university, then known as the Centenary Biblical Institute, changed its name to Morgan College to honor Lyttleton Morgan, the first chairman of its board of trustees and a land donor to the college. It became a university in 1975.
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The 1953 National Football League draft was held on January 22, 1953, at Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. Selections made by the folded Dallas Texans were assigned to the Baltimore Colts, since the Dallas team had moved to Baltimore.
Edward Paulette Hurt was an American football, basketball, and track coach. He served the head football coach at Virginia Theological Seminary and College—now known as Virginia University of Lynchburg—in Lynchburg, Virginia from 1925 to 1928 and Morgan State College—now known as Morgan State University—in Baltimore, from 1929 to 1959. Hurt also had long tenures at the head basketball and head track coach at Morgan State. Across those three sports, his teams at Morgan State won 36 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) championships and produced two Pro Football Hall of Famers and an Olympic gold medal winner. Hurt's Morgan State Bears football teams won six 6 black college football national championships and 14 CIAA titles. Hurt also served as the school's athletic director from 1958 to 1970. He played college football at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Talmadge Layman "Marse" Hill was the head basketball coach and an assistant football coach at Morgan State College, from the 1930s to the 1960s.
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The 1937 Morgan Bears football team was an American football team that represented Morgan College in the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) during the 1937 college football season. In their ninth season under head coach Edward P. Hurt, the Bears compiled a 7–0 record, won the CIAA championship, shut out five of seven opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 168 to 19. The Bears were recognized as the 1937 black college national champion.
The 1944 Morgan State Bears football team was an American football team that represented Morgan State College in the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) during the 1944 college football season. In their 16th season under head coach Edward P. Hurt, the Bears compiled a 6–1 record, won the CIAA championship, shut out five of seven opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 218 to 5. The Bears were recognized as the 1944 black college national champion.
The 1933 Morgan Bears football team was an American football team that represented Morgan College in the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) during the 1933 college football season. In their fifth season under head coach Edward P. Hurt, the Bears compiled a 9–0 record, won the CIAA championship, shut out eight of nine opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 319 to 6. The Bears were recognized as the 1933 black college national champion.
The 1946 Morgan State Bears football team was an American football team that represented Morgan State College in the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) during the 1946 college football season. In their 18th season under head coach Edward P. Hurt, the Bears compiled an 8–0 record, won the CIAA championship, shut out four of eight opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 151 to 31.
The 1949 Morgan State Bears football team was an American football team that represented Morgan State College in the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) during the 1949 college football season. In their 20th season under head coach Edward P. Hurt, the Bears compiled an 8–0 record, won the CIAA championship, shut out four of eight opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 226 to 33. The Bears were recognized by the Pittsburgh Courier, using the Dickinson Rating System, as the 1949 black college national champion.
The 1947 Morgan State Bears football team was an American football team that represented Morgan State College in the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) during the 1947 college football season. In their 19th season under head coach Edward P. Hurt, the Bears compiled a 5–2–1 record and outscored opponents by a total of 104 to 62. The team ranked No. 9 among the nation's black college football teams according to the Pittsburgh Courier and its Dickinson Rating System. Their only losses were to No. 7 Virginia State and No. 11 Howard.
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The arrival of the black athlete on the national sports scene in the 1940s and 50s goes directly back to Edward P. Hurt. There is not a single black sports figure in the world today who is not in some small way in the debt of Coach Hurt.