The Cal 100: No. 38 -- Craig Morton
We count down the top 100 individuals associated with Cal athletics, based on their impact in sports or in the world at large – a wide-open category. See if you agree.
No. 38: Craig Morton
Cal Sports Connection: Morton was Cal’s starting quarterback for three years (1962-64) and played on the Bears baseball team in 1963 and 1964.
Claim to Fame: He was selected to several first-team All-America football squads in 1964. Morton became the first quarterback to lead two different teams to the Super Bowl, and he finished second in the 1977 NFL MVP voting and fourth in the 1981 MVP voting. Morton was replaced during a 1977 game so he could make his rehearsal dinner that night before his marriage the next day.
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Craig Morton experienced his greatest fame at an age when athletes are usually past their prime, after he was presumed to be washed up, and after a strange quarterback shuffle by Cowboys coach Tom Landry spelled the end of Morton’s time in Dallas.
The surprising peak came in 1977, at the age of 34, when he took the lowly Denver Broncos to the Super Bowl for the first time and finished second in the MVP voting. It happened again in 1981, at the age of 38, when he had the best season of his career while placing fourth in the MVP voting and leading the Broncos to a tie for the division title.
No one saw that coming after his few disastrous years with the New York Giants. It was more like what people had expected at the outset of Morton’s pro career, when he was the fifth overall pick in the 1965 NFL Draft after an outstanding career at Cal.
Morton came to Cal in 1961 as a two-sport star. This was before Major League Baseball had an amateur draft, but several major-league teams offered Morton, a pitcher, to join their minor-league systems.
Morton was a prominent member of Cal's baseball team in 1963 and 1964. Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics
Instead of becoming a pro baseball player, Morton came to Cal, becoming the Bears starting quarterback during his sophomore season in 1962, and going 20-of-28 for 274 yards and three touchdowns in his college debut -- a loss to Penn State. Morton played under head coach Marv Levy and assistant coach Bill Walsh, and although the Bears never had a winning record with Morton at the helm, he broke a number of Cal passing records. His career passing yardage of 4,501 set a Pac-8 record.
His completion percentage of 60.1% as a senior in 1964 was remarkably high for that era (Jon Huarte, the Heisman Trophy winner that year, completed 55.6% of his passes).
And despite Cal’s 3-7 record in 1964, Morton finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting and was named to a number of first-team All-America squads.
Morton spoke a few years ago in the video below about his time at Cal during the turbulent '60s.
Morton was drafted by the Cowboys and sat behind Don Meredith until Meredith’s retirement, taking over as Dallas’ starting quarterback in 1969. The next year, despite a shoulder injury that would require offseason surgery, Morton took the Cowboys to the Super Bowl in the 1970 season. Dallas lost that forgettable Super Bowl game to the Colts 16-13 on a field goal with nine seconds left, ending a game that featured 11 turnovers.
The next year, Roger Staubach came on the Dallas scene, starting a quarterback controversy. Landry alternated Morton and Staubach as starting quarterbacks early in the 1971 season, then, in a game against the Bears, Morton and Staubach played alternating plays. Staubach won the starting job after that weird quarterback shuffle, although a preseason injury to Staubach in 1972 put Morton back as the starter, leading the Cowboys to a 10-4 record.
Morton was relegated to backup duty and was traded in 1974 to the Giants, who went 8-25 in two-plus season with Morton, who threw 49 interceptions in his brief time in New York.
He was traded to the Denver Broncos in 1977 in exchange for quarterback Steve Ramsey, who never played a game for the Giants, and a fifth-round draft choice in 1978.
Then, as if by magic, Morton became a star.
In their seven NFL seasons before 1977, the Broncos had never reached the playoffs. In Morton’s first season in Denver, the Broncos went 12-2 in the regular season, the best record in the AFC. Morton was named the AFC player of the year by UPI and finished second in the NFL MVP voting, behind only Bob Griese.
That, folks, is impact.
And it went further. Despite a hip injury that required a week-long stay in the hospital just before the start of the 1977 postseason, Morton led the Broncos to the Super Bowl with two postseason wins. He became the first player in NFL history to take two different teams to the Super Bowl. (That feat has since been matched by Tom Brady, Kurt Warner and Peyton Manning.)
Morton even got married that season, and was removed from a game in the middle of the season so he could make his rehearsal dinner that night and his wedding the next day,
Now that’s a successful season.
The 1977 season did not have a happy ending as Morton went 4-for-15 for a mere 39 yards, four interceptions and no touchdowns in the 27-10 Super Bowl loss to the Cowboys. Morton was replaced in the third quarter of that game by Norris Weese.
But Morton rebounded from that embarrassing Super Bowl performance, taking Denver to the postseason each of the next two seasons. He had his best NFL season in 1981 at the age of 38. That year he finished fourth in the MVP voting, and the Broncos went 10-6, tied for first in their division but missing the postseason on a tiebreaker.
Morton was the oldest player in the NFL in 1982, but was replaced as the starter in the fourth game, had surgery on both knees, and retired.
Later Morton was head coach of the Denver Gold of the USFL and co-authored a book titled, Then Morton Said to Elway . . . -- The Best Denver Broncos Stories Ever Told."
Morton is 80 years old.
The Cal 100: No. 39 -- Camryn Rogers
Cover photo of Craig Morton courtesy of Cal Athletics
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