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Jon Nicholson Morris (born April 5, 1942) is an American former professional football player who was a center for 15 seasons in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Holy Cross Crusaders before playing professionally for the Boston Patriots / New England Patriots, the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears.
Morris was a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and baseball. He was an All-Metropolitan football player, and played both offense (center) and defense (linebacker). As a junior in 1958, he was selected to the School Sports Association (SSA) first-team All-Prep football team at center. In 1959 as a senior, the 6 ft 3 in (1.9 m) 200 pound (90.7 kg) Morris received the first-team SSA honor again at center. He was runner up for football player of the year honors in 1959.
Morris led Gonzaga's football team to the city championship in 1959. He was also named to the All-Catholic league basketball team that year; and was an All-League first baseman in baseball as a senior, with a batting average among the top five in the league.
Morris was the News Scholastic Sports Association Outstanding Athlete of the Year in 1960, for his accomplishments in football, baseball and basketball during the 1959-60 school year.
He was named both the Holy Cross Varsity Club Athlete of the Year and Holy Cross Lineman of the Year in the 1963 season. Morris was selected by the Associated Press (AP) at center to its second-team All-East team in 1962, and was selected first-team AP All-East center in his senior year (1963). Morris was a two-time first-team All-New England selection.
Morris was a co-captain of the North team in the Senior Bowl, playing center, and played in the College All-Star Game against the Chicago Bears in August 1964. He was named a second-team Catholic College All-America at center his senior year. He was named a second-team center on the Central Press Captains' All-American team, behind the first team's Dick Butkus.
He was an AFL All-Star six times, 1964 through 1969, and was a Pro Bowl center in 1970. He was the first Patriot to be selected for the Pro Bowl after the AFL/NFL merger. He was selected by the Associated Press (AP) to its All-AFL second team in 1964-65 and 1969, and to its first team in 1966. United Press International (UPI) named him its second-team All-AFL center in 1965. He played in 130 regular season games for the Patriots, starting 125, the eighth best individual record in club history.
Morris was a full-time starter at center beginning in his 1964 rookie season. He received two votes for AFL Rookie-of-the Year. The Patriots were 10–3–1 that season, the best record the Patriots had during Morris's tenure with the team. Toward the end of Morris's rookie season in Boston, Holovak said he had expected Morris to be a good player, but his play exceeded Holovak's hopes. Morris was selected to the AFL All-star game in his rookie season, and started for the Eastern division at center. He was second-team All-AFL that year. The Oakland Raiders' future Pro Football Hall of Fame center Jim Otto was the first-team All-AFL center that year.
Otto was selected to the All-AFL first team at center every year of the AFL's independent existence (1960-69), and was the Hall of Fame's all-time AFL first-team center. In 1964, Morris missed by a single vote being named first-team All-AFL center by the AFL itself. However, in 1966, the Associated Press chose Morris as its first-team All-AFL center, over Otto, in a close vote. This was considered the biggest upset in voting for that team. Morris was named the second-team All-Time AFL center for that league's decade of existence in the 1960s.
Morris played in 127 or 128 games for the Patriots until suffering a knee injury early in the 1973 season, on the second play of the team's second game of the season, against the Kansas City Chiefs on September 23, 1973. He only played in two games that season, and then only three games as a backup center the following year (1974).
Morris wore No. 56 for the Patriots, as did Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Andre Tippett.
In 2011, Jon Morris was selected by a senior selection committee as a member of the New England Patriots Hall of Fame. In 2014, he was named to the Patriots All-Time Team, during its 55th anniversary year. In 1979, he was named first-team center on the Patriots All-Time Team in celebration of the team's 20th anniversary.
The 1776 Club (the Patriots' fan club), named Morris the team's 1964 Rookie-of-the Year, and gave Morris its Unsung Hero Award in 1965 and 1972.
Morris was inducted into the Holy Cross Hall of Fame in 1973, and was an inaugural inductee of the Gonzaga College High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 1983. He was joined in 1991 by his brother, Will, who was a quarterback at Gonzaga and for the Maryland Terrapins as well serving as Gonzaga head football coach from 1975 to 1978.
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