Son of Baylor's Jim Morgan passed away today

[bamajoe]

Not alot of information at this time , but just wanted all those that know and LOVE Jim to have this information .

[FIG42]

Our thoughts and prayers will be with Jim and his family. Jim has been a very good friend to Charlie for his entire wrestling career. I am sorry for your loss Jim.

 

The Arringtons

Greeneville Tn

[clintabbott]

Prayers to the Morgan family. Clint Abbott

[gallopingghost77]

I am so sorry to hear about the passing of Coach Morgan's son. My wife and I will keep Jim and his family in our prayers and in our thoughts.

 

Darrel and Traci Lauderdale

[ArtusCimber]

Everyone at Science Hill sends their condolences.

 

Jeff Price

[gonavy2]

Coach Morgan, I am so sorry to hear of your loss of your precious son. Please know that our family, and speaking fot the rest of the Brentwood Academy families, all have your family in our prayers, and wish there was something more we could do. Respectfully, Todd Brannon

[hrdcrwrestler]

Sorry for your loss.

 

The Maxwells

[bbb]

Details ..

 

 

go to chattanoogan.com for full obit .. b.b.b.

 

 

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday at St. Paul??™s Episcopal Church (downtown Chattanooga) with Rev. Donald Fishburne, The Reverend and Honorable Sam Payne, Dr. Hunter Huckabay, Rev. Suzanne Smitherman, and Rev. Robert Leopold officiating.

 

The family will receive friends from 10-11 a.m. at the church.

 

Interment will follow in Forest Hills Cemetery with Jamie Radliff, Rob Collins, John Allison, Ash Bullard, Chuck McMillian, Michael Jones, Gregory Jones, John Jordan, and Tyler Morgan serving as pallbearers.

 

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children??™s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, Tn. 38105-1942.

 

Visit www.heritagefh.com to share condolences.

 

 

understanding that the Ooltewah at Baylor match at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday will be held and there is an alumni reception after the match.

[KCHSCoach]

I am sorry for Jim's loss. You are in our prayers

 

Don Beardsley

[noonesfool]

We send our strongest regrets for the Morgan family and we will be keeping you and your family Jim in our prayers.

Love,

David and Sara Hollowell

[CHATTWRESTLING]

The absolute worst tragedy that can befall an adult is if they have to bury one of the children. I don??™t care if it is jail or drugs, death by alcohol or even killing another human being, there is nothing on earth quite as bad as outliving a son or a daughter.

 

My mother is the best friend I have on this earth, but, twice, I have watched her eyes as we have buried two of my brothers and the look is so horrible it is indescribable. I saw that same look yesterday when Jim and Sis Morgan buried their 32-year-old, James David.

 

I am not a real bright guy, but I??™ve studied when it has happened in the Bible. I read about it when it happened to King David, who may be my favorite after the courage he instilled in so many of us with his sling-shot. But not until I sat with my mother after my brother Franklin died was I able to grasp how God felt when his Boy gave it all for you and me.

 

 

I have said repeatedly that if the same God came to me and told me it was time to walk my last mile before ???crossing the river,??? what solace it would be if He would let me take 10 people I treasure the most to walk beside me to the water??™s edge. One of my 10 would be Jim Morgan, whose day job is teaching chemistry at Baylor but whose gift is taking boys into his wrestling room and sending men back out the door.

 

Back when I was still a teenager and working as a sports writer, my first ???beat??? was UTC wrestling. I??™d pile in the car with the greatest collection of athletes you ever saw ??“ dozens who were at the funeral yesterday - and go to SEC schools like Alabama and Auburn to watch ???little ole UTC??? whip the living worry out of the big boys. It was during those days that I fell in love with Coach Morgan.

 

So I was there when he and Sis finally got married (and I agree she??™s the biggest champion in the family). I was there, too, when the two boys were born ??“ James David and Christopher Wells ??“ so I know better than most how the boys were raised, about the love they were given at home, and the lessons they were taught at the dining-room table.

 

Trust me, I know all about that because if I had a dollar for every mile I??™ve sat beside their Pop as we sailed down the highway late at night, we could totally fund research for some awful disease like epilepsy. Jim Morgan, who was born in tiny Ducktown and lucked into a McCallie education, is simply one of the finest and purest men I have ever known. He is real; very, very real.

 

Well, I am at a point today where my doctors tell me to avoid big crowds, to constantly wash my hand, and any fingers that stick out on the other arm, with soap and hot water, and to not dare get close to anyone who even looks sick. So yesterday my only intent was to make sure I caught Sis??™s eye, to make sure Coach knew I was there in a church that was bulging with so many warriors and winners from various decades you couldn??™t have stirred them with a stick.

 

But that didn??™t work, no, not at all, because by the time I got close to Sis my heart was weeping so badly I??™ll never forget her hug and, when I saw Jim, he grabbed me in a way that would have cost us a penalty point.

 

You must understand, there were literally hundreds of the greatest people in sports who were there in tribute, and, when you throw all the Morgans??™ friends in the mix and the more hundreds of younger ones who were there because they loved James David, it was exactly like the philosopher Angelo Patri once said, ???The life of a soul of earth lasts longer than his departure.???

 

Among my top five favorite books is one now out-of-print that was written by an Episcopalian priest, John Claypool, entitled, ???The Tracks of a Fellow Struggler.??? I have read it cover-to-cover at least 25 times, most often when someone I hold in my heart loses a child.

 

The book is simply four sermons and it is especially eloquent because John Claypool has also had that haunting look in his eyes. John??™s first sermon came when his 12-year-old daughter??™s cancer went into remission. The second is about what a struggle it is to give thanks when that so very vicious disease comes back. The third is right after his darling died, but it is the fourth that I will always carry in my soul because it was given on the first anniversary of her death, a reflection - if you please - like no other.

 

What that last chapter poses is basically this question: suppose you and the Lord were talking and He said, ???Listen, I have a great kid but I need him back before you can come to heaven. Would you rather ??¦ well, I sort of lend him to you for, oh let??™s say, 32 years or would you rather forego the laughter, the victories, the cases of the flu, the family vacations and all of that? I??™ll understand and still love you either way.???

 

The Rev. Claypool, who I met and visited with several times before he joined his daughter in heaven a few years ago, took the stand that only an dummy would turn down such an opportunity. He described, in the first person, what that little girl had meant in his family??™s life, even at the end with the nurses and tubes and all the rest.

 

My prayer today is that Jim and Sis Morgan and their son Chris will take the same stance, that they??™ll be like my own mother who still keeps pictures and keepsakes of my brothers Kinch and Franklin scattered throughout her house, and on holidays always laughs at what each of them used to do to make us love them so very much.

 

Any parent who loses a child knows what it is to simply endure, Lord knows they do, but while they??™ll never replace that face at the table or the huge hole in their hearts, they carry the memories of this time and that with them each and every minute. They all do, unfailingly, until that glorious day finally arrives when they can cash in on a rock-solid promise and, yes sir, they will see their children once again.Thanks Roy Exum for writing this great article.

 

I've seen two of my very best friends laid to rest at a very young age, theres not a week that goes by that i don't think about them. Matter of fact i sometimes ask them too watch over my son's as they go into battle and i truly believe that they are there when i ask for them. To my friends, Scott Gant and Mitch Ayers-I love you.

At 14 i was at Mitch's house when i got the call about Scott, and in 1997 i got the call at home while i was playing with my young children about Mitch. It is this raw emotion that i carry around every day and plead with my children to give everything they have and just a little bit more. Its the embrace that Roy Exum describes from Coach Morgan, I know every one of you guys felt what he was talking about. To my friends, grab your children and tell them that you love them. I told BCB yesterday that i went to see Winston Gant about ten years ago, before i could say anything i saw tears in his eyes, and the one thing i took from our conversation, He said it never goes away-the pain is always there. This was New Years 1986, Scott still had christmas he hadn't opened. It is this raw emotion that i carry everyday, seeing my friends laid to rest by their parents. I still drop by the cemetary at least once a year to tell them that i miss them, they are together by the white oak duck pond in Red Bank. Good Luck to everyone wrestling this weekend, and give everything you got-Go ALL IN!

Brian Henry

[ntimid8tor]

We are very sorry to hear of the passing of Coach Morgan's son. All of the coaches, wrestlers, and parents of the Pigeon Forge wrestling family send their condolences. We will keep the Morgan family in our prayers.

 

 

Pigeon Forge Wrestling Family