Larry Lee Morrison

1936 - 2024

New story
By Mike Sigov
Blade Staff Writer

Larry Lee Morrison, a longtime Sylvania Schools coach, teacher, and administrator who in retirement was an athletic conference commissioner for 25 years, died Nov. 20 at Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Perrysburg Township. He was 88.

He died of lung cancer, daughter Julie Morrison said.

"He knew A from Z and was able to communicate that," said Rick Kaifas, Toledo Area Athletic Conference commissioner. "He was a great communicator. And in his job as an athletic administrator, in his job as a commissioner of two leagues at one time, he was outstanding as a communicator."

He was also "as genuine a man as you would ever meet and as organized as any man could possibly be," Mr. Kaifas said.

Mr. Morrison retired in 1990 after 16 years as the principal of Northview High School in Sylvania schools. He'd served there as an administrator and coach since 1962.

Before Northview High, he at different times taught physical education and science at junior highs in the Anthony Wayne and Washington Local Schools, was an assistant principal at Burnham Junior High and Sylvania High School, and principal at Arbor Hills Junior High School.

Additionally, Mr. Morrison coached high school football, basketball, and baseball in the Anthony Wayne, Washington Local, and Sylvania schools between 1958 and 1967. He coached Sylvania High School to Great Lakes League baseball titles in 1966 and 1967.

From 1981 to 1988, Mr. Morrison was president of the board of directors of the Ohio High School Athletic Association, which gave him a Mac Morrison Lifetime Service Award for leadership.

In retirement, Mr. Morrison was the Great Lakes League commissioner from 1990 to 2003, the year the league disbanded, and led the Northern Lakes League from 2001 until 2015, when he retired permanently.

"I decided I wanted to stay involved in athletics, so this [working as a league commissioner] was a way to do it," he told The Blade in 2009.

"It is a pleasure to work with school people who are really committed to their jobs. As long as they are happy with me [serving as commissioner] and as long as I enjoy it, I will keep working," he said at the time.

As a league administrator, Mr. Morrison impacted many lives, Mr. Kaifas said, including his own.

"He was very influential in my life," Mr. Kaifas said. "He was the commissioner of the GLL when I was the athletic director at Whitmer High School. After I retired, I also became a [league] commissioner. He used his knowledge to make my job easier," he said.

Over the years, Mr. Morrison also served on the Sylvania Township park board and the American Cancer Society state golf committee.

Mr. Morrison was inducted into the Anthony Wayne Hall of Fame and Sylvania Schools Foundation Athletic Hall of Fame, in 2009 and 2011 respectively.

Ms. Morrison spoke about the depth of her father's relationships with the high school players he coached.

"People from all over the country, they come back and see him periodically," Ms. Morrison said. "More than one of them told me they thought of him as a father figure. And then he had a lot of people in the education field that talked about him being a mentor to them."

Her sister, Jamie Gilts, said that she too was amazed how many lives her father seemed to have touched over the years.

"He loved being a [school] principal," Mrs. Gilts said. "And he loved everything about athletics. He went to every single athletic event when he was a principal."

Born April 12, 1936, in Maumee, to Fern and Maynard Morrison, he graduated from Anthony Wayne High School before receiving his bachelor's and master's degrees in education at Bowling Green State University, where he played baseball.

Mr. Morrison later obtained an education specialist degree at the University of Toledo.

His sports background includes being a three-sport standout in high school at Anthony Wayne, where he played baseball, basketball and football.

Baseball proved to be his best sport. He earned All-Ohio recognition his senior year, and became the first Anthony Wayne player to receive All-Ohio honors.

"I started out in athletics when I was 10 and I officially stopped in 2015 when I was 79, and I loved every minute of it," Mr. Morrison told The Blade in 2023. "The main reason is that I had success as an athlete. The life skills you learn are invaluable. You learn how to get along with people, how to be a good teammate, and be supportive."

In his free time, he enjoyed playing golf.

Mr. Morrison was a member of Olivet Lutheran Church, where he was a past congregation president and the building committee chairman.

His other memberships included Sylvania Township Park Board, the American Cancer Society state golf committee, and the Sylvania Rotary.

He was preceded in death by his sisters, Joyce Bucher and Donna Ingle.

Surviving are his wife of 65 years, Marcia Morrison; daughters, Julie Morrison and Jamie Gilts; brother, Don Morrison; and four grandsons.

Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at Reeb Funeral Home, Sylvania. Funeral services will begin at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Olivet Lutheran Church, Sylvania, immediately following an hour of visitation.

The family suggests tributes to the Sylvania Schools Foundation, Hospice of Northwest Ohio, the church, or a charity of the donor's choice.