James McKay Morton '69

At Episcopal, Mr. Morton played basketball, track, baseball, and football, and was exceedingly talented and skilled in all four sports. He was a three-year starter in basketball and won the William Caskie Watts Most Valuable Player Award following his junior and senior seasons. Mr. Morton was named to the Washington Evening Star first-team D.C. Metropolitan Area All-Prep team and was the leading scorer (19.3 ppg in league play and 14.4 overall) and rebounder (9.8) on the team despite being only 6’3”.
“I played basketball with Jim our senior year,” says Rob Whittle ’69. “He was so much better than the rest of us, it wasn’t funny. He tried to make us all better, but it was tough for him. Many a no-look pass bounced off a teammate’s head. But he never chastised us.”
Former EHS Headmaster and basketball coach Sandy Ainslie ’56 says, “As great as his EHS career was, it would have been even greater had he not possessed one weakness: he was selfless to a fault. He was the most stubbornly unselfish player I had ever seen, let alone
coached. I was never able to convince him to ‘take over a game.’ He was always eager to share the ball.”
Mr. Morton also lettered in varsity baseball his sophomore year and then focused on track as a junior and senior. He set school records in the high jump and triple jump and was the leading scorer by almost 100 points while amassing 227.5 for the undefeated 1969 track team (HOF 2013) coached by Jim Seidule.
“We could never have had that great season without Jim Morton,” says Seidule. “He was always at his best in the big meets. The better the competition, the better was Jim Morton. He never missed a practice, was never injured, always prepared for his events, and had a great attitude.”
At EHS, Mr. Morton was also a Monitor, Head Cheerleader, Waiter, and a member of the E-Club, the Hop Committee, the Athletic Advisory Board, and the Pithonian Society.
He was recruited by coaching legend Dean Smith and played freshman basketball at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
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