{"id":14380,"date":"2019-02-08T10:02:09","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T16:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/?p=14380"},"modified":"2021-04-22T12:17:59","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T17:17:59","slug":"coach-tom-morton-appointed-mma-alumni-affairs-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/14380\/coach-tom-morton-appointed-mma-alumni-affairs-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Coach Tom Morton appointed MMA alumni affairs director"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MMA\u2019s veteran coach and teacher to trade classroom for an office<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Tom<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Marine Military Academy has appointed Tom \u201cCoach\u201d Morton as the director of alumni affairs. Morton, a veteran teacher and coach at MMA, will trade his classroom for an office as he begins his duties for this new position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As director, Morton\u2019s goals are to: establish an extensive and updated alumni database; increase communications between alumni and their alma mater; and develop MMA alumni networks across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really want to keep the alumni informed about what\u2019s going on with their school,\u201d Morton said, \u201cand I want the people at MMA to know what\u2019s going on in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Superintendent Col R. Glenn Hill said it was time for MMA to have an administrator dedicated to its alumni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of our alumni spent five and even six years at MMA \u2014 more than they did getting their college degree. Most of our alumni have a very strong connection to MMA, so as an organization we need to play a greater role of helping them stay connected to their classmates and to their school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Hill, Morton was the right person for the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCoach Morton is very respected by our alumni. During the reunions, he is always one of the people our alumni want to see. It doesn\u2019t matter if they graduated in 1975 or 2010, they want to share their lives with him and stay in touch with him,\u201d Hill said. \u201cIf anyone can organize and advance our alumni affairs program, it\u2019s him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morton joined MMA in August 1974. Over his 37 years, he has taught Texas history, U.S. history, world history, government, economics, and world geography. For 33 years, he coached several sports, including football, basketball, baseball, track, and cross-country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Morton served as athletic director for a total of 25 years, from 1978-1993 and then again from 1998-2010. He was especially proud of MMA in the 1980-81 school year, when the football, basketball and track teams went undefeated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally from Ridgeland, S.C., Morton holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in secondary education from Texas A&M University-Kingsville (formerly Texas A&I University), where he double-majored in history and health & physical education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former athlete, Morton played football for Texas A&I University in 1969 and 1970. Both of those years his team won the national championship. Morton even played professional football for the Atlanta Falcons for a short time after college. After leaving the Falcons, he moved to Harlingen and began his career at MMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though he has had offers from other schools, this coach and teacher has dedicated himself to MMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like working with the kids here. I love the environment, and I like the people that I work with. For the most part, it\u2019s a great place to work,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m actually very excited to start this new chapter in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morton is asking all MMA alumni to contact him as soon as possible at tmorton@MMA-TX.org or (956) 421-9235.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MMA\u2019s veteran coach and teacher to trade classroom for an office Marine Military Academy has appointed Tom \u201cCoach\u201d Morton as the director of alumni affairs. Morton, a veteran teacher and coach at MMA, will trade his classroom for an office as he begins his duties for this new position. As director, Morton\u2019s goals are to: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14381,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14380"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14478,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14380\/revisions\/14478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}