By:Jennifer Marino
Former players, friends and family gathered to honor Morris, who died last January at age 70, by dedicating the new St. Agnes Cathedral School gymnasium floor to him. The Friends of Coach Frank Morris are hoping to continue to refurbish the gym. The floor was redone and inscribed with Morris's name over the summer.
The group hopes that is just the first step in upgrading the facility, which is now used by the elementary school and Catholic Youth Organization teams. Group members want to create more space outside the sideline areas by installing new stands farther from the court. They also hope to add new trophy cases in the foyer and a new scoreboard.
Morris was a phys. ed. teacher at the now defunct St. Agnes High School. The former Merrick resident wasn't a fan of the game when he started coaching basketball at the school in 1961, but in 26 seasons he won one state and 10 Catholic High School Athletic Association championships, four of them consecutively. The record of four straight victories stood for 30 years. It was Tim Cluess, a former Morris player who became the coach of St. Mary's, who broke the record.
The Morris legacy is already evident at St. Agnes. There is a "Frank Morris rule" in CYO play, said Joe Altman, a member of the Friends of Frank Morris. The rule is to send the kids home exhausted so their parents have a life. Morris was known to work his players hard. Former player Billy Donovan, current coach of the University of Florida Gators, remembered that one practice lasted so long, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., that his mother drove around Rockville Centre looking for him.
Another former player, Frank Alagia, reminisced about Morris's tutelage. "He was the biggest influence in my life, other than my father," said Alagia. To his players, Morris was coach, trainer, psychologist and tutor, all for free, according to Alagia.
It was Alagia's ankle that Morris taped so badly. The only other fault Alagia could think of was that Morris liked to win. In phys. ed. class, if he was playing for one team in softball and it was losing, he'd switch to the other team.
Donovan said that now that he and his former teammates are older, they better understand the lessons Morris passed along. The philosophy of hard work and always giving it your all has helped Morris's players achieve success in business and family life. "We could never repay the fun, the ideals, the things he taught us," said Alagia.
Bernie O'Brien spoke as a parent of a player, his late son Timothy, and as a co-worker of Morris's at the Rockville Centre Rec Center. O'Brien was the athletic director of Valley Stream South High School. When Morris was offered the basketball coach's job at Valley Stream Central, he discussed the pros and cons with O'Brien. O'Brien admitted that he was a bit selfish in his advise to Morris that he should stay at St. Agnes. O'Brien had young sons, after all, and wanted them to be educated in "basketball and life" by Morris. "He helped me raise my children," said O'Brien.
Jim Lennon, former coach, dean and assistant principal at St. Agnes, was also honored on Saturday. Lennon hired Morris as his replacement after he gave up coaching in 1960. It was 50 years ago this season that Lennon became coach of boys' basketball at St. Agnes. The team had a record of 82-8 during his tenure.
The Friends of Coach Frank Morris plan to gather photos, newspaper clippings, stories and other memorabilia for a commemorative book on Morris's career and St. Agnes basketball. To contribute to the book, contact Brian Laux at blaux@game7sports.com. The book is expected to be published in October.
Comments on this story? JMarino@liherald.com or (516)569-4000, ext.221.
