As we conclude the 2023-24 Morgan State Athletics season, we embark on a journey through time to delve into the rich history of our athletic program. Over the coming weeks, we will delve into the archives to relive iconic game recaps and compelling stories that have shaped the legacy of Morgan Athletics.

Join us as we pay homage to the legends who have graced our fields, courts, and tracks. Let us celebrate the moments that have brought us joy, pride, and inspiration. And let us draw upon the lessons of the past to empower our student-athletes and teams to achieve even greater heights in the future.

Here's what was reported on December 4, 1943:
 

E. B. REA SAYS: Morgan, No. 1 Team
The Baltimore Afro-American

On the strength of its past season's performance Morgan College can rightfully claim the mythical National Gridiron Championship over the nation's list of service and collegiate teams.

As far as this column knows, Morgan is the only colored major football team in the country boasting a perfect season's record, including for the first time intersectional teams, Wilberforce of the Mid-Western Conference and Florida A. and M., ex-national champions of the Southern Conference.

Out of five games, the Bears scored 166 points against all opponents' nothing. This is the second time in Morgan's athletic history that the Bears went through a season unscored. They accomplished this in 1934 in an eight-game schedule. However, they met stiffer opposition and were held to 96 points and three scoreless ties.

Since Morgan joined the Colored Athletic Association in 1930, its teams have played 106 games, winning 86 against 9 losses and 11 ties, scoring a total of 2144 points against all opponents' 282. Between 1932 and 1938 Morgan played 54 consecutive games without defeat. Virginia State College broke the streak in the 55th game on Thanksgiving Day in 1938 with a 15-0 victory.

Morgan to Fete Stars
Morgan State College will honor its 1943 football squad and coaches at an annual dinner to be held Monday night in the college cafeteria.

This year's grid team recently closed a perfect season on the gridiron, going through a five-game schedule unscored on and untied. Five games previously scheduled were canceled when member schools of the CIAA withdrew from competition for the duration because of manpower shortage.

Bears Reject Bowl Invite
The Morgan College Bears this week turned down a bid to play the Tuskegee Institute Tigers in the Vulcan Bowl at Birmingham, Alabama., on New Year's Day, according to Edward N. Wilson, registrar.

While the college has consistently turned down post season grid games because of its yearly heavy schedules, "we could not accept it if we wanted to," Mr. Wilson told the AFRO on Thursday, "because we have already lost a number of key men to the draft and are expecting to lose more before New Year's Day."

In defeating Alabama State on Thanksgiving Day, Tuskegee also annexed the Southern Conference championship and the second consecutive bid to play in the bowl. In addition to Morgan, Prairie View State College of Prairie View, Texas, was extended an invitation to meed the Tigers.

Bear Notes:
● Morgan was led by: Terry (Tippy) Day, halfback; Fred (Biscuit) Burgess, halfback, Calvin Irvin, halfback, Lawrence Moore, end, and guards, Hugey Joiner and John Williams. 
●The Bears also had a contingent of nine Baltimore products that includes Stanley Beckett, Edward Jones, Melvin Layton, Granville Marshall, Francis Ogle, John Poag, Rudolph Redd, Joseph Tyler and George Washington. 
● Coach Eddie Hurt had twenty-four players, smallest squad in history of the gridiron sport under Hurt at Morgan.
● Hurt was head football coach from 1930 to 1959. In his 29 years as the football helm, he won 14 CIAA championships.

● In the midst of World War II, the college football landscape underwent a dramatic transformation. As the conflict escalated, an increasing number of players were drafted into military service, leaving a void on the gridiron. 
● Eight CIAA colleges discontinued the 1943 football season. Meanwhile, the other CIAA college carried on, battling incomplete schedules besides lack of manpower and travel difficulties. 

● The Vulcan Bowl was played at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. The game was played on New Year's Day between 1941 and 1949 and again in 1952, between historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The game was one of the longer-lasting bowls for HBCUs established in the 1940s. The first game in the series was called the Steel Bowl, and the bowl game served as an early era black college football national championship game by matching the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion against the best team from the other HBCU conferences.

1943 Schedule 

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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering more than 126 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.