Craig Morton, Cal standout and NFL stalwart, dies at 83 | Football

Another sturdy Golden Bear is watching from the sky.

Former Cal quarterback Craig Morton died Saturday. He was 83. According to a statement to the Denver Gazette by his spouse, Kym Galloway, Morton passed away of complications from pulmonary edema and sepsis.

Morton was best known for his NFL career, which spanned 18 seasons from 1965 to 1982. He spent time with three franchises: the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants and Denver Broncos.

Morton enjoyed great success in Dallas and Denver, leading both teams to their Super Bowl debuts. He started the 1971 Super Bowl for the Cowboys and 1978 Super Bowl for the Broncos. Although he lost on both occasions, Morton did lift the Lombardi Trophy for 1972 Super Bowl as the backup to Dallas’ Roger Staubach.

Before he lit up the NFL, Morton was a beacon of hope in Strawberry Canyon. He quarterbacked three dismal Cal teams from 1962 to 1964. The Bears compiled a 8-21-1 record over his tenure, never won more than four games a season and never touched the Stanford Axe.

Despite the lack of team success, Morton consistently shone. He led the Athletic Association of Western Universities, now the Pac-12, in passing yards twice in back-to-back seasons.

His signature campaign came as a senior in 1964. The blue and gold limped to a 3-7 record, but Morton passed at a 60.1% clip for 13 touchdowns — standout numbers for the late ’60s. He left Cal with a slew of school records, including the high marks for career touchdown passes (39) and passing yards (4,501).

For as pedestrian as that Cal team was, the nation recognized Morton’s excellence. He was awarded the Pop Warner Trophy as the best senior on the West Coast, and finished 7th in Heisman Trophy voting. The NFL followed suit, as Dallas selected Morton fifth overall in the 1965 NFL draft.

After backing up Don Meredith for four seasons, Morton emerged as Dallas’ starter in 1969. Playing through a separated shoulder, he led the team to the 1971 Super Bowl against the Baltimore Colts, which ended in a narrow 13-16 loss. It was a bona fide rock fight, marred by poor offensive play by both teams. Baltimore and Dallas combined for 11 turnovers, of which interceptions thrown by Morton accounted for three.

The remainder of Morton’s time in Dallas was marked by a protracted quarterback competition with Staubach. Coincidentally, the pair had faced off in college. Morton’s Bears bested Staubach’s Navy Midshipmen 27-13 in 1964, and the two represented the West and East respectively at that year’s Shrine Bowl.

Morton and Staubach presented Cowboys head coach Tom Landry with a clash of styles: Morton was a conservative passer who stuck to the playbook, while Staubach was a maverick with a penchant for improvisation. Landry’s indecision was so great that he alternated between the two throughout the first seven games of 1971, with Staubach starting on odd weeks and Morton on even ones. This perplexing “quarterback relay” culminated in Dallas’ Week 7 loss to the Chicago Bears, in which Morton and Staubach swapped plays.

Landry eventually settled on Staubach, who quickly solidified the choice by winning the 1972 Super Bowl that same year in 1972.

Staubach would waltz into Canton as the leader of Dallas’ first dynasty. The writing was on the wall for Morton.

He was initially traded to the Giants, where he never found his footing and felt “the vocal wrath of the fans.” After going 8-25 with Big Blue, then-33-year-old Morton was shipped off to the Broncos in 1977.

Denver was looking for a veteran bridge quarterback, behind whom young prospects Craig Penrose and Norris Weese could develop. Instead, the Broncos got a man at his peak, as Morton revived his career in the Mile High City.

In his debut season in Denver, Morton was named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year and the AFC Offensive Player of the Year. Before Morton’s arrival, the Broncos had recorded just three winning seasons in their 17-year history — they had never even made the playoffs.

Morton helped legitimize the struggling franchise by helping it to a 12-2 regular season record. Although that team was best known for its stifling “Orange Crush” defense, Morton ably piloted the offense. He threw for just under 2,000 yards and 14 touchdowns to eight interceptions, along with four rushing scores.

Morton led Denver to postseason victories against the Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers — between them, the AFC juggernauts had won the previous three Super Bowls.

The AFC title game against Oakland was perhaps Morton’s finest hour in a Broncos jersey. He had suffered a gruesome hip injury against the Steelers and spent the week of the AFC championship game in the hospital.

His left leg had ballooned with blood, and Morton could barely stand. Broncos wide receiver Rick Upchurch remarked that “his leg was blacker than I am.”

Morton fought through the pain, throwing for 224 yards and two scores in the win.

“He was a warrior,” Upchurch said. “He got out there and got it done.”

The win set up a tantalizing clash with Staubach and the Cowboys in the 1978 Super Bowl. In the process, he became the first and only quarterback thus far to lead two teams to their Super Bowl debuts. For Morton, it was a chance at redemption against the team that had passed him over.

However, it was a chance Morton couldn’t take.

He completed just four of 15 passes for 39 yards with four interceptions and was benched late in the third quarter. Dallas routed Denver, 27-10.

Reflecting on the loss last August, Morton accepted full responsibility. “Nobody will ever play as bad of a game,” he told the Denver Gazette. “It had to be the worst game ever played.”

His Denver teammate, linebacker Tom Jackson, was more charitable. Jackson’s opinion was that the hip injury had “caught up with him,” and he still credited Morton with kickstarting the success that the Broncos would enjoy in the 1980s.

Morton would have a career-best season in 1981. Aged 38, he threw for 3,195 yards and 21 scores, before retiring in 1983. Just like Staubach in Dallas, his successor in Denver would overshadow him. The Broncos would draft Stanford’s John Elway in 1983, who would win two Super Bowls and saunter into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Regardless, Morton remains a landmark figure in Broncos history. Before Elway and Peyton Manning took Denver to Disneyland, it was Morton who built the Broncos into a contender. Denver named Morton to its Ring of Fame in 1988.

After a brief stint in coaching, Morton couldn’t resist the pull of Strawberry Canyon. He worked in Cal Athletics’ development office until his retirement in 2017. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1992 for his exploits in Berkeley. Cal Athletics named Morton to its Hall of Fame the same year. Morton was also honored with the 2019 Glenn Seaborg Award, given annually to a former Cal football player for his career accomplishments in athletics, academics and leadership.

Galloway told the Denver Gazette that Morton wanted his ashes spread over the infamous Tightwad Hill. His final resting place will overlook California Memorial Stadium, where his legend began in Berkeley.