Honoring a fallen colleague: Thank you, Brad Morris, for being my friend
It is not very often you meet someone who is truly selfless. My friend and colleague, Brad Morris, is that person. He was the most selfless person I have ever met, and I mean that literally.
Brad passed away unexpectedly Saturday night. When I heard the news Sunday morning of his sudden passing, it was a gut punch. I was truly saddened. My first thought was how and why. He was much too young to be gone so soon. He was only 40 years old.
As I went about my day Sunday doing family stuff, my mind kept going back to Brad and just how heartbreaking it was that he had passed. I thought about all our conversations, and the thing that stuck out to me was what a kind and gentle soul he was.
He never made it about himself. Each time we talked, he always asked me how my family was doing. Through the years, Brad and I became a lot closer, not only as colleagues in the business, but we struck up a friendship that I will always cherish.
He had a way of making you feel better about yourself. He offered me so many words of encouragement through the last several years, and he was always there when I needed to vent about work stuff. He was always so positive and told me what a great job I was doing and to hang in there.
Brad, a Logan Elm graduate, was the sports editor at the Circleville Herald for 15 years, and in 2022, he started his own website, The Sporting Pumpkin. His high school coverage in Pickaway County was as good as it gets. The way he covered high school sports was unique and he covered it with dignity and class, and his writing style was second to none.
Brad genuinely cared about the coaches and the athletes he had the privilege to cover, and no one took you behind the scenes of a win or loss or explained the backstory better than Brad did.
He was a tremendous ambassador for the Pickaway County schools he covered, and the Southeast District.
Brad was always there to help young and upcoming sportswriters, and I know his fellow colleagues in Southeast Ohio are hurting today because he was their friend, too. He was someone we all could go to for advice, regardless of whether it was about something in the sports world or just talking about things going on in our everyday lives.
Just last Wednesday, Brad and I talked, and as usual, we talked about sports, mainly about Teays Valley playing Lancaster in football and how the Vikings would be joining the Ohio Capital Conference and playing in the same league as the Gales, but then like it always did with Brad, it would always turn to how things were going in each other’s lives.
He told me he was this was his 19th season of covering high school sports and asked me what year it was for me. I told him it was year 31 for me. His response: “Well, you do a great job and Fairfield County is lucky to have you.”
It is those kinds of uplifting remarks from him that always make you feel good. He didn’t have to say that, but he has always been that way whenever I talk to him. I tried to turn the conversation about him and what a great job he has done with his new website, but he kind of glossed over that and turned the conversation to how much he has enjoyed his two nieces, and how he was hoping one of them made the seventh-grade volleyball team.
We talked about the Cincinnati Reds and the Buckeye football team a lot, and he always had a strong opinion about both, which makes me chuckle when I think about that.
I saw Brad quite a bit this past winter because I covered several of our teams when they traveled to Teays Valley, Circleville, Logan Elm, or at Amanda-Clearcreek. He was always so helpful and supportive, and I appreciated it so much, but that is Brad, he was always there to support one of his friends in any way he could.
Brad dedicated his life and sacrificed a lot of his time to his craft. More than people will ever know. He was so humble, caring, and respected, and I will miss talking and seeing him at games, and always greeting me with a smile on his face.
Thank you, Brad, for always making me feel better about myself, but most importantly, for being my friend. I will never forget you.
Rest easy, my friend.
Tom Wilson is a sports reporter for the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. Contact him at 740-689-5150 or via email at twilson@gannett.com for comments or story tips. Follow him on Twitter @twil2323.
This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Honoring a fallen colleague: Thank you, Brad Morris, for being my friend
