CURTIS MORGAN

By KENT MINCER
The Daily Sentinel
Grand Junction, Colorado

Curtis Morgan never looks back at what could have been.

He's been married to his wife, Pam, for nearly 25 years. He has a son, Tyler, and a daughter, Jessica, of whom he is quite proud. Tyler has given him another source of joy, his 2-year-old grandson, Carson.

He had an offer to play baseball at the University of Texas and an offer to play pro ball, but chose instead to go to work in the family trucking business in Oklahoma. Morgan is currently the company's CEO.

It's been a good life. Athletically, his career as a catcher for Seminole (Okla.) Junior College gave Morgan all the satisfaction he needed.

Twice it took him to the pinnacle of junior college baseball, the Junior College World Series.

As a freshman designated hitter and catcher in 1980, Morgan primarily caught left-handed pitchers. By his sophomore season he had worked his way to becoming the Trojans' starting catcher.

Morgan's individual goal during that 1981 season was to bat .400. He hit .450.

He had a great JUCO tournament, finishing with one of the highest batting averages ever in the tournament at .636. He had 14 hits and three home runs and drove in 15 runs. Morgan was awarded the Big Stick Award in addition to the Most Valuable Player trophy.

"The whole week up there, 10 days, was a great time. I think the big-league atmosphere is what I really liked about it," Morgan said. "As far as a baseball game, that was by far the largest (crowd I played in front of) at the time. I'm not too sure, I think there was like 13,000 people there that one night. We were in the bracket where we got some of the late games, and it was sure fun."

Morgan was never much for individual accolades, however.

"We played as a team back then so much," he said. "We all had our goals, what we wanted out of it, but we came up there for the national championship."

The team was 78-7, two victories shy of its goal of reaching 80 victories. But for Morgan and his teammates, the biggest goal was the one they unfortunately were not able to achieve.

They came ever-so-close. The Trojans lost to Miami-Dade (Fla.) College-South 18-17 in the title game.

Morgan played in high school and in junior college for two coaches who impressed upon him the importance of never giving up.

"I think, day in and day out, if somebody tells you you can't do something, if you want to you can prove them wrong," Morgan said of the lessons he learned on the baseball field. "Even if the odds are against you, you can make things happen if you try hard enough. You can't ever quit."

After his junior college days, he weighed his college and pro baseball offers but chose to remain in Seminole, the town where he grew up, raising his family and coaching his son in Little League baseball and youth football.

"It goes back to that competitiveness," he said of coaching his son. "I just can't help it."

Morgan has made it back to the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series "three or four times," by his count, to root on Seminole, "still trying to hunt that national championship," he said. That was something as a player and as a fan he has never been able to celebrate.

This week's trip to Grand Junction will bring back even more memories for Morgan, who will bring his wife, family and friends along for the occasion.

"It's quite an honor," he said of being selected to the Golden Anniversary team. "I probably don't realize how good an honor it is."