Teddy Morris

{{short description|Canadian professional football player and coach}}

{{Infobox gridiron football person

| name = Teddy Morris

| image =

| alt =

| caption = Teddy Morris 2014 Finals

| birth_date = {{Birth date|mf=yes|1910|03| }}

| birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada

| death_date = {{Death date|mf=yes|1965|09|5}} (aged 55)

| death_place = Malton, Ontario, Canada{{cite web|url=http://www.mississaugablogs.com/2008/03/runnin_into_history.html|title=Running into history|last=Stewart|first=John|date=2008-03-24|publisher=MississaugaBlogs.com|access-date=2008-06-07|quote=on the Sixth Line in Malton … sheep farm was located behind a store on Sixth Line … who owned the place … Alan Byron Morris, better known as Teddy Morris.}}

| team =

| number =

| status =

| position1 = Running back

| position2 = Flying wing

| height_ft =

| height_in =

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| college = Toronto

| coaching_years1 = 1940–1941

| coaching_team1 = Toronto Argonauts (assistant)

| coaching_years2 = 1942–1944

| coaching_team2 = HMCS York Navy team

| coaching_years3 = 1945–1949

| coaching_team3 = Toronto Argonauts

| coaching_years4 = 1960

| coaching_team4 = Toronto Argonauts

| playing_years1 = 1931–1939

| playing_team1 = Toronto Argonauts

| career_highlights =

; As player:

• 3× Grey Cup champion (1933, 1937, 1938)
• Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy (1937)
• 5× All-Eastern (1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1938)

;As coach:

• 3× Grey Cup champion (1945, 1946, 1947)

| awards =

| honors =

• Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (1975)
• All-Time Argo (1998)

| CFHOF = allan-teddy-morris

| CFHOFYear = 1965

}}

Allan Byron (Teddy) Morris (March 1910{{cite book|title=1911 Census of Canada|publisher=Government of Canada|pages=Ontario / Toronto East / 43 Toronto / page 10 / Line 48|url=http://www.automatedgenealogy.com/census11/SplitView.jsp?id=81128}} – September 5, 1965{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/182684082.html?dids=182684082:182684082&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=SEP+06%2C+1965&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Teddy+Morris+Dies&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525012640/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/182684082.html?dids=182684082:182684082&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=SEP+06,+1965&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Teddy+Morris+Dies&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 25, 2011|title=Teddy Morris Dies|date=1965-09-06|work=The Washington Post|pages=D1|access-date=2008-06-01}}) was a Canadian Football Hall of Fame player and coach for the Toronto Argonauts.

Morris began playing Canadian football with Toronto playground teams and moved on to the Winnipeg Native Sons junior football team. Upon his return to Toronto he joined the Argonauts junior squad and quickly earned a spot on the senior team. He was a star player for the Argonauts for nine years and was named All-Eastern running back three times and flying wing twice and named the 1937 Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy winner as the player who best exemplified skill, sportsmanship, and courage in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union.{{cite web|url=http://www.cfhof.ca/members/allan-teddy-morris/|title=Teddy Morris|work=Hall of Famers|publisher=Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum|access-date=2008-05-31}}

Morris' recovery of an Argonauts' punt blocked by Winnipeg's Bud Marquardt in the 25th Grey Cup is often cited as the first of the fabled "Argos Bounces" as it bounced off the field and right into Morris' hands preventing a Blue Bomber possession deep in Argos territory.{{cite web|url=https://www.cfl.ca/page/his_greycup_recap1937|title=1937 – Toronto Argonauts 4, Winnipeg Blue Bombers 3|work=Grey Cup History|publisher=CFL.ca|access-date=2008-07-17}}{{cite news|url=http://toronto.cflgreycup.ca/index.php?module=newser&func=display&topicnum=&nid=21185&writer=0|title=Grey Cup returns to its roots|last=Bell-Webster|first=Josh|date=2007-11-05|publisher=CFL.ca|access-date=2008-06-07}}

In 1940, the year following his last game as a player, Morris began as a backfield coach for the Argonauts then, during IRFU's break from playing during the Second World War, coached HMCS York's football team, and upon IRFU's return to play in 1945, became Argonauts head coach earning three consecutive Grey Cups from 1945 to 1947 and respect from fans and players alike.{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F11F8355F147A93C4A91782D85F418685F9|title=Allan B. Morris|date=1965-09-06|work=New York Times|access-date=2008-06-07|quote=Allan Byron (Teddy) Morris, who starred at Canadian football for Toronto Argonauts and later coached them to three successive Grey Cup championships died of a heart attack today at his farm home near here (Toronto)…}} Morris briefly returned to the Argonauts in 1960 as assistant coach to Lou Agase, having been brought in to help the American acclimatize to Canadian football.