He achieved his fame on the football field, and those who knew him at Powers Catholic High certainly remember that. But when Jim Morrissey’s name comes up around Powers, it’s his character which is recalled most fondly.
“He was a very quiet, humble young man, all through high school,” said Kathy McGee, his homeroom teacher at Powers. “When he came in, he was a pretty good-sized freshman, but he was very quiet and very meek. When you watched him on the football field, he wasn’t quiet there at all. He hasn’t changed. I couldn’t think of a nicer person to be inducted into the Hall of Fame here.”
Morrissey, a linebacker for nine years in the National Football League, is the first athlete in the 31-year history of Powers to earn induction into the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame, Morrissey broke into the NFL with one of the greatest teams of all-time, the 1985 Chicago Bears who selected him in the 11th round of the draft after he received All-Big Ten Conference honors at Michigan State. Morrissey’s teammates voted him the Most Valuable Player after his senior season.
Cracking the Bears’ lineup was tough, but Morrissey found himself on the field his rookie year in Super Bowl XX with 10 minutes left in what would become a 46-10 Chicago rout of the New England Patriots. Morrissey, who played almost exclusively on special teams that season, picked off a Steve Grogan pass and returned it 47 yards to New England’s 5-yard line.
It was the ultimate Super Bowl souvenir, but it’s no longer in Morrissey’s possession. Instead, it is proudly displayed in the trophy case at Powers. That, in and of itself, speaks volumes about Morrissey’s character. “He donated the ball to the school,” said Ron Rolak, an assistant coach at Powers when Morrissey played on the varsity in 1979 and 1980. “There’s only one of those and he could have easily wanted to keep it for himself. I can’t say enough about what a fine individual and community-minded person he is.”
Morrissey’s nine-year NFL career is about nine years longer than anyone expected. He was not only the 11th round pick, but he was among the Bears’ final cuts before the 1985 season. The Bears resigned him after the first week of the season and he played in all 15 remaining regular season and three postseason games. He went on to play eight full seasons with Chicago, and two games in 1993 before being released. After six games that season with Green Bay, Morrissey called it a career. “Every year Mike Ditka addressed the whole team and said he didn’t care in what round you were drafted or how good you looked in the paper,” Morrissey said. “If you could compete for him on his football field, you could make his football team. It’s something I needed to hear as a rookie, because the odds were definitely against me at that point.”
The odds were even greater that Morrissey would wind up sharing a piece of the Super Bowl spotlight with guys such as Walter Payton, Jim McMahon, Mike Singletary, William “Refrigerator” Perry and Richard Dent. But there he was in the fourth quarter of a blowout game, lining up at line-backer next to eight-year roommate Ron Rivera. “I didn’t practice too much with the defense,” Morrissey said. “I’m asking Ron, Ron, where do I go?’ He told me if they pass to just fall back into the flat. As I turned to look at the quarter back, the ball was coming to me. It was a gift.”
Morrissey eventually earned a starting job on defense from 1988-92. In 114 NFL games, he had nine regular-season interceptions for 52 return yards. His career-high of three thefts came in 1988. When Morrissey left football after his stint with the Packers, he did so with no sense of sorrow. “It was easy for me,” he said. “I played nine years. When the Bears let me go after the third game (of 1993), I kind of had it in my head I still could play. Then I was out five weeks and the Packers picked me up. Being with them the remainder of the season, getting into a new system, it gave me a better outlook. Mentally and physically, I couldn’t compete anymore. It kind of helped me out. I was ready to cut ties and move on.”
These days, Morrissey works as a financial planner with Axa Advisors in Northbrook, Ill. He has lived in the Chicago suburb of Lincolnshire, Ill., for 9 1/2years with his wife, Powers graduate Amy Mondelli; and children Michael, 12; Caitlin, 10; Anna, 8; and Matthew, 4.
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