Johnny Morris
Quick Facts
Biography
Johnny Edward Morris (born September 26, 1935) is a former American football running back/wide receiver in the National Football League.He spent his entire ten-year career with the Chicago Bears, and is the franchise's all-time leader in receiving yards with 5,059.He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara. Morris won an NFL championship in 1963. In 1964, he had his best season with 93 receptions for 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns.
In 1964, while still playing for the Bears, Morris joined WBBM-TV in Chicago as a sportscaster. Except for a six-year stint at rival WMAQ-TV, Morris remained at WBBM until 1992, serving for most of that time as sports director. During his time at WBBM-TV, he popularised the use of the telestrator (a device for drawing over still or moving video images) in sports television, which was invented by fellow WBBM-TV employee Leonard Reiffel for his science-related TV series Dimensions on Tomorrow's Living and The World Tomorrow. He also served as a football color commentator for CBS' NFL coverage from 1975 to 1986. He retired in 1996.
His father was from Achladokambos, Greece. The family last name being Monoporis (Μονοπορης). His mother was Swedish. While playing for the Bears, he was known as “Little Greek” and Bears player Bill George was “Big Greek”.