Jim Morrison joined the Youngstown State Athletic Department following his graduation in the mid-1960's and has been a dedicated staff member and contributor ever since.
That’s 50 years of his life dedicated to YSU athletics. The football program has played 74 seasons, and Morrison has been part of two thirds of them. He has missed one game in his tenure, and that was because of a death of his father.
He worked as a student assistant in the University business office when he came to YSU in the summer 1962 and held that position until he graduated in summer of 1965 with a degree in business. He first worked as an administrative assistant in the YSU business office, providing financial aid for students, for three years before taking over as the Athletic Department’s first business manager in 1968.
He served in that capacity on a full-time basis upon taking early retirement in1996. He then worked two additional years through 1998. He was responsible for the department budget, purchasing, oversaw program budgets, handled team travel, ticket sales and promotions throughout his YSU career.
He remains involved with the Athletic Department serving as the Associate Director for the Penguin Club and continues to assist with scheduling for the football program.
Morrison’s first office as a member of the Athletic Department was in Kilcawley Center while the rest of the department coaches and staff were located in Tod Hall.
The early years might have not featured as many sports programs, but it also didn’t have the luxuries we take for granted now. No computers or internet. No cell phones. No GPS. And most notably, no home venue for sports programs. Football bounced around. Men’s Basketball had multiple home courts. Baseball was on the move. This included games and practices for all teams.
The moves made logistics hard and keeping solid relationships within the community were important so YSU athletes could use facilities that did not belong to them.
The football program played home games at Rayen High School, Campbell High School before moving to Austintown Fitch during the heydays of the late 1970’s. Even that was difficult because as the team had success, more fans decided to show up. The fans had their first tailgate parties in the main parking lot behind the stands, but that was hard because cars needed to park where fans had to walk and party. YSU had to rent portable lighting for games at the facility as well.
One Saturday afternoon before a football game at Rayen Stadium, the entire Morrison clan shoveled snow to help clear seating areas for the game.
Finally in 1982, the Penguins had a place to call home in Stambaugh Stadium. But that didn’t stop some of the trials and tribulations of behind-the-scenes work. On road trips the travel had to be organized. The buses needed to be on time, and, on many Ohio Valley Conference trips, the team often spent an extra night in Nashville while Morrison waited for the game film to be developed.
The department began a steady growth by adding staff in the mid 1980’s, but staffing was still tight. As late as the early 1980’s, Morrison, his wife, Cathy, along with Mary Ann Lisko and her husband, Jerry, would package and mail season tickets for football and basketball. All tickets had been pre-printed during the playoff run in the early 1990’s so many volunteers donated their time to help sell tickets and document who was sitting where.
The basketball team was always on the move as well, bouncing between South High Field House, Austintown Fitch High School and Struthers Fieldhouse when he first started. Finally the program had a home in the Beeghly Center starting in December 1971. Morrison said the Beeghly Center was a facility built with federal money, and it wasn’t really the ideal athletic venue. So some tweaking was necessary to make it the home of Penguins athletics.
The Beeghly Center helped relieve some strain somewhat because the football team’s early locker room was in the basement of Tod Hall, which is now the administrative building for the University. The three full-time staff members of the athletic department - Paul Amodio, Pauline Saternow and Morrison - shared one office space together that was separated by partitions in the upper corner of the Beeghly Center.
He has worked with six full-time Athletic Directors during his career – Willard Webster, Amodio, Bill Narduzzi, Joe Malmisur, Jim Tressel and Ron Strollo.
During his tenure, he served as an Associate Athletic Director for the Athletic Department under Tressel. Twice he served on the NCAA Division I-AA playoff selection committee in the 1990s. He was the department’s liaison for the 1997 Stambaugh Stadium expansion project that featured the east side addition as well as a second level of loges and the DeBartolo Stadium Club.
In 1979, Morrison served as the College Athletics Business Managers Association (CABMA) President for all Divisions. As a Division II business manager helped develop relationships with big schools and had their complete support. A lot of the organization’s members had much more experience than Morrison, but as a small-school business manager he was chosen to lead the group.
Morrison played a key role in the development of the Penguin Club, which started in 1974. At the time, Head Football Coach Rey Dempsey was looking to increase donations for the football program, and, the organization was spawned with Morrison handling the finances for the group. Today, the organization is instrumental in funding scholarships and operating budgets for all athletics programs within the Department.
He said his best memory will always be the first national title victory in 1991 over Marshall. “It’s been a great ride. I’ve enjoyed it,” he said.
Jim and his wife, Cathy, have two sons (Greg and Doug) and five grandchildren. Cathy and Jim celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this past April.
