Tom Morgan, Fort Campbell's first baseball and basketball coach as well as a two-sport Hall of Famer at Austin Peay, died Friday at 87. [APSU Athletics graphic]
One of Fort Campbell’s first coaches and former Austin Peay Athletic Hall of Famer Tom Morgan died Friday. He was 87.
Morgan was the long-time baseball coach at Fort Campbell, starting with the school’s beginnings in 1962. Morgan coached the Falcons for 31 seasons before retiring in 1993. Fort Campbell had 25 winning seasons in his first 26 years as baseball coach.
He led the Falcons’ to their first baseball region title in 1987 as part of an 18-6 team that had lost its top three pitchers from the previous season to graduation and transfer.
The following season, the Falcons won a school-record 20 games.
Morgan was also the first boys’ basketball coach at Fort Campbell when the school opened. That first Falcon team went 0-21, but the program improved each year afterward posting 26 wins in his final five seasons as hoops coach.
Morgan taught driver’s education and health at Fort Campbell High.
Morgan was a 1978 inductee into the Austin Peay Athletics Hall of Fame, which was the first full class to be enshrined.
More than 60 years after his final game, he remains Austin Peay’s all-time leader in rebounds (1,431), career rebound average (13.3), single-season rebound average (17.0), single-season rebounds (561) and career field-goal attempts (1,721) as a basketball player, while still holding APSU baseball records for single-game strikeouts (17) and single-season strikeouts per nine innings (10.57).
Morgan’s No. 52 basketball jersey was retired in 1999, becoming the third retired number in Austin Peay men’s basketball history and fifth across all sports.
Morgan had offers to play with the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Giants, and the St. Louis Cardinals but turned them down.
Tom is survived by his wife of 67 years, Amy Yates Morgan; daughters, Cindy Pack, Lisa Mullins, and Tammi Maxwell; and four grandchildren.
There will be a private, family-only service held Sunday, July 19 Dickson, Tennessee with a Celebration of Life with family and friends to follow at a later date.
