THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 5, 1995 TAG: 9508050433
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 169 lines
You want sincerity, you've got T.J. Morgan Jr., who will serve you up earnestness on a platter, 24 hours a day.
Morgan, a 29-year-old chiropractor, quotes from the Bible and author Stephen Covey, the guru of ``highly effective people,'' while discussing the Hampton Roads Sharks minor league football team he gained control of last spring.
He fixates, face stern, on high-minded ideas of community service and especially of establishing a legacy. About how he wants the heretofore ragtag Sharks, around since 1988, to take root as his proud, enduring piece of the South Hampton Roads landscape.
And not just the sports landscape. A former star running back at Kempsville High School who played at the University of Richmond, Morgan sees the Sharks leading underprivileged, searching children to solid moral ground and promoting among them education and self-esteem.
He sees his organization sending eligible young Sharks to college on scholarships, with the help of the tutor he's brought on board, and boosting the best of them to pro contracts in Canada or the NFL.
The vision goes as far as laying a foundation for a Canadian Football League franchise in the area, all the while introducing his players to the ideals of Judeo-Christian living.
``It says in the Bible that for every once you give, you shall receive tenfold,'' says Morgan. ``That's the mentality, to try to teach these guys that if you give out of your own abundance, there's so many other things you'll receive.''
Morgan - whose team opens its Mason-Dixon League season Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the Center for Effective Learning field, turns to his letter to fans that will appear in the game program.
It is, naturally, a sober moment.
``People have told me I'm pretty intense,'' he says. ``You can't change. You gotta be what you gotta be.''
Morgan reads:
``We feel we have a quality football organization, one that is committed to family values, the community, the youth, all charities, in the spirit of Judeo-Christian values. . . .
``One of the most beneficial roles that any organization can have for the community is to provide youth with an opportunity to participate in positive and constructive activities outside of school.''
It goes on, but the picture painted is that of a football team for which blocking, tackling and winning occupies just a small corner of its mission statement. And there is an actual mission statement, printed right there in the Sharks' informational brochure: ``Our primary goal is to serve the public.''
That mission - including a scholarship for the area's best all-around high school player - will be put into practice this season at Seatack Elementary, the Sharks' adopted school. Aside from being their practice site, Seatack will see the Sharks all year long, Morgan says, as players walk children to classes on the first day of school, participate in reading programs and generally provide positive role models.
``This is a community-active football team, and we want to be that way,'' says second-year Sharks coach Red Stickney, a 35-year veteran of high school coaching who'll have Morgan as offensive coordinator. ``We hope it pays off in people coming out to games, supporting us and believing in us.''
What Morgan believes in, with all his substantial passion, is the restorative, life-affirming power of football.
A tough workhorse of a back, Morgan led Kempsville to the 1983 state Group AAA title game and was The Virginian-Pilot's player of the year.
Shaped philosophically at Richmond by the upbeat, religious influence of coach Dal Shealy, Morgan was ``heartbroken'' at not being able to play pro football. But far from spurning the game, Morgan remained as deeply in love as ever.
``I have about 20 NFL videos,'' Morgan says, pointing to a TV and VCR behind his desk. ``I just let them run. Football is the greatest game in the world, I don't care what anybody says. Seven of the top 10 TV shows of all time are Super Bowls. They sit there and say, `This Super Bowl is being broadcast in Japan, Australia and Timbuktu.' It's the greatest.''
Morgan, who has a wife and two children, returned to the area to set up his chiropractic office two years ago, and last year joined the then-Tidewater Sharks as a member of their medical team. He became a minor investor during the season, then made a deal to take over the team from Tom Overstreet. That's when his vision took flight.
Says Morgan, ``People say, `Why are you doing this? For the money?' No. `Well, what if it doesn't work?' Well, that's it: what if? I could not do it, then I would always say, `What if?' ''
Morgan coaxed his friend from Kempsville, former NFL player D.J. Dozier, to become the team's director of player relations, the guy who can open college and pro doors for the Sharks. He met with local business people and politicians, sports clubs and team officials such as Admirals owner Blake Cullen and Tides president Ken Young.
He sought advice and endorsement, while promising the Sharks would be unlike any adult amateur - Morgan eschews the word semipro because no players or staff are paid - football team the area has seen in years.
It has to be, Morgan says, to set itself apart from the others, even the late Tidewater Sharks, that have failed to capture the area's interest.
``Initially I thought, `We're just going to go out and give these great, neat little speeches (at Seatack),' '' Morgan says. ``Then I realized to really make a difference, to have a significant effect on these children, we have to have a presence there more than just once. You just can't do it once a year and hope that'll change anybody's life.''
Morgan says he's never paused to ponder where a football team gets off trying to change lives. He knows, though, that the people he's shared his ideas with are on his side.
``We're excited about forming a partnership with them,'' says Katherine Parker, Seatack Elementary's principal. ``We've had several adopt-a-school partners, but we've never had a football team.''
Garland Payne, a past president of the Norfolk Sports Club, says Morgan made a presentation to the Club in a bid for its counsel and support, which Payne says his group is pleased to offer.
``The people involved this year, more than anything else, show a tremendous amount of dedication and spirit, more than just putting a team on the field or winning a championship,'' Payne says.
The difference is huge. The Sharks, amid rumors of financial and organizational difficulties, won a division title last year, then had hardly anybody show up for practice before their first-round playoff game. They were beaten, and Stickney was so soured he quit until Morgan took over and talked him into staying.
Stickney subsequently persuaded Morgan to be his offensive coach, though Morgan says he'd be playing if he didn't think an injury could floor his growing business.
``T.J. insisted on a top-flight program, that's why I'm back and involved in it,'' said Stickney, who was an assistant coach at Kempsville. ``He promised me he was going to do things right.''
That includes Morgan requiring his players, most of whom hold day jobs and came via tryout camps, to sign an agreement to take part in community activities.
``We've got a lot of new players and I think that has to do with the changes,'' said longtime Sharks defensive end Darryl Nimmo. ``Some of them didn't, or couldn't, be as committed as the new people are requiring. But we've got some quality young players and they seem to be willing to do what it takes.''
Morgan envisions bigger changes over the next few years, and has to reel himself in when talking about the CFL team and the 40,000-seat stadium he thinks can be built, provided Virginia Beach donates land from Mount Trashmore II and the four other Southside cities chip in monetarily.
A regional effort, in other words, where regional efforts are practically impossible to produce.
Yep, Morgan's a dreamer - of strong, provocative dreams.
``I would just say that's something to start shooting for,'' Morgan says. ``I've got my head in the clouds far enough, I don't want to sound like I'm a lunatic. It's not something to just ramble on about, because that's where people start to question you. So many groups have come in here with all the bells and whistles going . . . and it turns out there's no backing, no anything.
``We want to be something of substance and we want to prove that we are. There's a lot of anxiousness inside me. I've got to see it myself.''
He believes it will work, though, and here's why: because football, Morgan says with his eyes wide, ``is the greatest social common denominator known to mankind.''
Not music, not art, not science, not politics, not religion.
Football. For the entire human race.
Is Morgan serious, or what? MEMO: Staff writer Lee Tolliver sontributed to this article.
ILLUSTRATION: HAMPTON ROADS SHARKS
L. TODD SPENCER PHOTOS
Ex-Kempsville High star T.J. Morgan Jr. wants his team to reach out
to Hampton Roads youths with scholarships and a reading program.
INSIDE
The Sharks have cleaned house since last season, but they hope to
continue a winning tradition/C4
Complete schedule and rosters/C4
KEYWORDS: INTERVIEW PROFILE by CNB