O’Donnell: Farewell to a wonder — ‘Captain’ Tom Morgan will be remembered

IF FIRST IMPRESSIONS WERE the only thing that mattered, Tom Morgan may not have made it on to the press box staff at Arlington Park way back in 1976.

He was tall, blunt and imposing. He handed down opinions like papal decrees. He denied that his boyhood bedroom had posters on the wall of John Wayne, Vince Lombardi and Genghis Khan.

“The Captain” loved structure, thoroughbred racing and could still come close to misting up over Denny McLain, Mickey Lolich and the 1968 World Series champion Tigers from his native Detroit.

ONE YEAR AFTER A FELLOW named Tom Rivera hired him at Arlington, Morgan realized that booking mounts for jockeys would offer greater stretch runs toward quenching his competitiveness, challenging his formidable intellect and making money.

So he began a long route as one of the premier jockey agents on the Chicago circuit. He was still at it Saturday when he died after a brief illness at age 73.

Quite fittingly, one of his riders — Alexis Centeno — was hovering near the top of the rider standings at Hawthorne Race Course on the afternoon when Captain Morgan reached his earthly finish line.

THE LOCAL RACING GAME IS so diminished in northeastern Illinois. But that did nothing to dissuade Morgan from maintaining a rigid daily schedule and abiding by some of the most sacred tenets of the backstretch.

“No agents come out every morning anymore to work the barns,” said Chris Block, the president of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. “No one that is except Tom. He was so old school. It was charming in its own way. But it also involved so much hard work and time.”

HARD WORK IN THE NAME OF LANDING CHOICE MOUNTS for his clients was eighth nature to Morgan. He was in bed every night by 7:30 and up and rolling stable to stable as the sun was rising.

His knowledge of every horse at any given Chicago meet could match that of the best racing secretaries.

Said Block: “Tom would have made a phenomenal racing secretary. But he wanted to compete. I can't begin to tell you how many races he won for me by telling where to (start) horses and how much I learned from him. So many people around our business — trainers, jockeys, other agents — learned from watching him operate and listening to him.”

THE GRAND ASSOCIATION OF HIS 49 SEASONS in Chicago racing was a 15-year run with jockey Randy Meier. Of Meier's 4,106 career wins, close to half were booked by Morgan.

“He had such a theatrical side,” Meier said. “He was the bad cop, the guy who would explain to a trainer why I was passing on riding his horse. The next morning, I was the good cop, telling the same trainer that I couldn't believe what Morgan did. Tom would then apologize and we'd retain the relationship with the barn even though we skipped the (bad) mount.”

IN DETROIT, MORGAN WAS A STAR QUARTERBACK at Cooley High, also the alma mater of long-ago Cubs pitcher Milt Pappas. In his senior season the Cardinals lost the city championship game 7-6 when he optioned the ball inside to a burly back for a failed 2-point conversion rather than flip to a much faster tailback for a sweep right.

“I learned an immutable truth that day about the value of speed,” he forever recalled. “Always go with (the speed).”

HE HAD A DEGREE IN JOURNALISM from Wayne State and clerked at both the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press. His initial intent was to be a sportswriter.

He never owned a home and never married. He put his Clydesdales in the barn early in the Reagan presidency. His greatest visible vice as the years went on was extra large pizzas to go from Fellini's in Mount Prospect when his great pal — the late Dominic Migliore — owned the restaurant.

DURING LOCAL RACING SUMMERS, he had a seasonal suite first at the Arlington Park Hilton and later the Holidome in Rolling Meadows. He was a voracious reader who counted one of the great sub terra scores of his life when a sportswriting chum let him use the columnist's home address to get a card at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library.

He nurtured any young backstretch hopeful who had an ample brain, sanctifying grace and a willingness to listen.

FOREMOST AMONG THOSE in more recent ranks was trainer Larry Rivelli, who saddled Two Phil's to a second-place finish in the 2023 Kentucky Derby.

“My God, 'Mo-Mo' was so smart,” Rivelli said. “He put me on the map. He had that stern exterior but what a heart and what a brain. No one in the Chicago game commanded more respect.”

SAID BLOCK, WHO WAS THERE to the end at the University of Chicago Hospital alongside Morgan baby sister (and guardian angel) Diane Burge:

“Tom was simply iconic and I'm not just using that word for effect. He elevated all of us by the respect he showed for the business and by the respect he showed for his profession. I miss him already and I guarantee we'll never see another like Tom Morgan ever again.”

“The Captain” proved that even among the most shrewd in thoroughbred racing, first impressions can be so deceptive.

Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.