Northern Skipper Steadies Team
By Guerry Clegg
Columbus Community News
Among the
many time-honored customs of Little League - right up there with chicken baskets
and raffle tickets - is the selection of a league's all-star managers. The honor
is almost always bestowed on the regular season winning manager.But this year, Northern broke custom. Although John Phillips' Pirates won the championship, the season demands of his landscaping business made him question his ability to commit an entire summer to managing the 11 and 12-year-old all-stars. You see, even in early June, Northern was thinking Williamsport.
"We felt like this team had a chance to do something special," said Richard Carter, Phillips' assistant coach and, more notably these days, father of star pitcher and slugger Kyle Carter.
So, with a heartfelt endorsement from Phillips and Carter, the league placed their considerable trust in Randy Morris, whose Dodgers finished second and gave the Pirates their only loss.
"Randy did a great job with the team two years ago," said Curt Thompson, Northern's president. "He's as steady as the day is long." Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that Morris doesn't have a son playing. He has two daughters - Blaire, 17, and Natalie, 11. Neither showed any desire to play ball until this year, when Natalie played softball for the first time - and made all-stars. But even if Natalie develops a new love for fastpitch, Morris is quite content to keep coaching baseball.
When it comes to Natalie, he will play the role of supportive parent.
"I think I'm better off on the outside of the fence," he said.
Why?
"I love to push my teams," he said. "A lot of parents who coach their kids either give them everything and don't make them work for it, or they push them too hard. I think I would be one of those coaches who would push my daughter too hard."
Mind you, Morris' form of pushing does not involve browbeating or hollering. The Randy Morris on display for the world to see on ESPN is the same Randy Morris you will find on a March afternoon at John Rigdon Park.
"He's a very easy-going, a very honest guy," Carter said. "If you were to look up integrity or dignity or honor in the dictionary, you'd see Randy's picture."
The only time Carter has heard Morris turn up the volume was at the Southeast Region tournament in St. Petersburg, Fla. The two coaches roomed together.
"I've never heard anybody in my life snore as loud as he does," Carter said.
When Phenix City won Little League's U.S. Championship in 1999, its manager, Tony Rasmus, received as much attention as the kids. He had quit his job as a football and baseball coach at Glenwood. You will not find Morris at the center of controversy.
"Randy's one of those guys who's very low key," said Thompson. "He's in this for all the right reasons, and that's to help the kids. He's a behind the scenes kind of guy."
Morris, a catcher, played four years of varsity ball at Columbus High for the late Frank Matthews, graduating 25 years ago. He played two more years at CVCC and thought he was through with baseball. He came back to coach his nephew, Shane Morris, in Little League some 13 years ago, as best he can recall.
"To me," Morris said, "this is all about the kids. I get my glory by watching them play."