• Offensive and defensive line coach for the Golden Bears football team from 1959 to 1964.
• As a Toronto Argonaut in the 1940s, won three Grey Cups and was selected to the modern era (1945-1973) All-Argonaut team.
• Won three Grey Cups with the Eskimos as a player and went on to be director of player development for 18 years.
• Part of 13 Grey Cup championship teams during his career.
• Inducted into the City of Edmonton, Alberta and CFL Halls of Fame, as well as the Edmonton Eskimos Wall of Honor.

When the name, Frank Morris, is spoken in Edmonton, it is normal for the listener to associate it with the Edmonton Eskimo Football Club. That is a well justified assumption given that 10 of the 13 Grey Cup rings that Frank has won over the years accumulated while he was an Edmonton Eskimo. Fortunately for the University of Alberta Golden Bears Football program, Frank Morris managed to spend six years helping to build the team into a contender at the national level. Frank joined the Bears’ coaching staff in 1959 as the offensive and defensive line coordinator. From that date until the fall season 1964, he worked with four different head coaches: Steve Mendryk, Murray Smith, Clare Drake and Gino Fracas. During Frank’s tenure the Bears represented Western Canada in the Churchill Bowl in 1962, losing to McGill University Redmen. The next year the Bears hosted the Golden Bowl and defeated the Queens’s Golden Gaels in a match that was the precursor of CIAU national championship play.

Frank Morris was recognized as both a coaches’ coach and a players’ coach. His working relationships with both groups were superlative. He brought to practices and to gam competition strategic football insights, a wonderful understanding of the psychology of sport and a fierce competitiveness tempered with good sportsmanship and a finely honed sense of human dignity. He helped to instill these qualities into the value base of athletic programs at our University so deeply that they are still in evidence to this date. His legacy continues to make an impact on young student athletes at the University of Alberta and the University is grateful for his contributions.

Frank was born and raised in Toronto where he was a star athlete in hockey, baseball, fastball and football. He began his professional football career with the Toronto Argonauts and played on their Grey cup winning teams in 1945, 1946 and 1947. He was team captain in 1948 and was named to the modern era (1945-1973) All-Argonaut team by the organization’s alumni association. Morris joined the Eskimos in 1950, was the team co-captain in 1953 and 1954, and helped to lead the Eskimos to three consecutive Grey Cup victories in 1954, 1955 and 1956. In 1970, the Edmonton Eskimos appointed Frank as Director of Player Development, a position he held until his retirement in 1988. During his career, Frank Morris participated in 19 Grey Cup championships – in 13 of those he took home a ring.

Frank had an uncanny ability to recognize outstanding football talent and during his years as the Director of Player Development with the Eskimos he helped to bring hundreds of young players into professional camps. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the building of University football, Frank Morris received an honorary lifetime membership to the Canadian College Football Association in 1981. He has been a football program builder par excellence.

Over the years this inductee has received many awards of recognition: in 1952 Frank Morris was the only Canadian selected to the CFL Coaches “Offensive All-Canadian Team” and in 1955 he was named to play for the West in the first East-West Shrine Game. In 1971 he was inducted into the Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame, followed by induction into the CFL Hall of Fame (1983); the Edmonton Eskimos Wall of Honour (1984); and the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame (1994). In recognition of his contributions as a builder of the University of Alberta Golden Bears Football program and his talents in the development of University football players across Canada, we are proud to add the name Frank Morris to our Wall of Fame.