Posted: Thu, 21 May 2009 11:08 AM - 9,582 Readers

By: Mike Forman

Chad Morris remembers the blister on Andrew Smith's index finger.

"He would keep the nail on his index finger a little longer because it was the last finger the ball touched when he threw and he wanted to hear it flick when he let it go," Morris said. "He would show me the blister on the end of his finger."

Morris also recalls Smith's infectious smile and the smile he brought to the faces of Bay City fans by directing the team to the 2000 Class 4A, Division I state championship.

"I remember that smile on the first day I came on the field and told him that we were going to throw it around a lot," Morris said. "I also remember his quick release and his ability to make plays and get us in the right situation. He was just a winner."

The same could be said of Morris, who was in his first season as the head football coach at Bay City when the Blackcats won their second state championship.

Bay City advanced to the 2001 Class 4A, Division I state final and into the bi-district playoffs in 2002 before Morris left for Stephenville, where he had 48-10 record in five seasons.

Morris became the head football coach at Lake Travis last season and led the Cavaliers to a 16-0 record and the Class 4A, Division I state championship.

"I've never been afraid of a challenge," said Morris, who has 150 wins and appeared in five state finals in his 15 years as a head coach. "Going from Elysian Fields to Bay City, I never felt like going from Class 2A to 4A was going to be a challenge.

"When I went from Stephenville to Lake Travis, they had just won a state championship. They contacted me and we met at an undisclosed location. I wanted to see what it was like. It sounded really good. I thought it was a place that was just scratching the surface of what it could do. I knew they had just won a state championship and there was no way to go but down. I wasn't afraid. It was just a matter of coming in treating the kids right and developing relationships with them."

Lake Travis is currently holding spring football drills, but Morris will take a break Saturday to travel to Bay City for the annual Andrew Smith Jr. Football Camp.

The camp is held in honor of Smith, who died in a car wreck in August of 2004, while returning to Denton for fall practice at the University of North Texas.

Proceeds from the camp, which is open to boys ages 6-17, go to the Andrew Smith Jr. Scholarship Fund.

Smith passed for 1,206 yards as a red-shirt freshman and led North Texas to a 24-19 win over Cincinnati in the 2002 New Orleans Bowl, the school's first bowl win since 1946.

"When Andrew went to North Texas, we kept great communications," Morris said. "I told him that if he got into a bowl game, I would be there. My dad and I went to see the New Orleans Bowl. He knew I would be there and when he saw me, he just laughed. He had a great impact on my coaching career."

Morris is looking forward to visiting with old friends and seeing former players like Archie McDaniel, who played linebacker on Bay City's state championship team and at Texas A&M and is currently a graduate assistant coach for the Aggies.

"You learn a little bit of something from every state championship game," Morris said. "As a coach, you take it all into perspective. I really enjoyed that win in Bay City. I remember how much our kids relished that year, but still worked hard. I've tried to take from what we did at Bay City. We didn't lose focus and remembered what we were there for. We did the same things at Lake Travis."

*  Story Contributed by: Mike Forman