Morgan gets carded for his years of service to Waynesville soccer

Nelson Morgan was in the process of coaching the final home soccer game of his long coaching career at Waynesville High School.
And for his efforts he was carded.
But he was carded in a nice way.
Morgan, who had already announced he was retiring as an assistant coach for the WHS boys’ and girls’ soccer teams at the end of this school year, was coaching the Lady Tiger junior varsity team against Nixa late in the second half Thursday at Slaughter Stadium when one of the game officials turned to him and pulled out a card.
“I said, ‘What did I do?’ ” Morgan said. “The official smiled at me and said, ‘That was for 19 years of aggravation.’ ”
The carding was premeditated.
Morgan serves as the Lady Tigers’ jayvee coach, and Thursday’s game was the season-finale for the WHS jayvee squad.
The game officials, all of whom have officiated numerous games that Morgan has coached, wanted to honor him in some way for his years of service. So they got prior permission from the Nixa coaches as well as WHS head coach Josh Scott to give Morgan one last, ceremonial card.
Instead of putting the card back in his pocket, the official gave the card – which had been signed by all three officials – to Morgan.
As it turned out, it wasn’t the first card that Morgan has been given. “I got a card in the district tournament in ’90 or ’91 at Sedalia,” he said. “I got a yellow card in Sedalia.
“(On Thursday) they caught me by surprise with this one.”
Morgan was on the sideline in 1989 when the WHS boys’ soccer program began. He was on the sideline in 1994 when the Lady Tiger soccer program began. And he will continue be on the sideline when the WHS varsity girls begin post-season play in the Missouri Class 2 District 11 Tournament next week in Lebanon.
But when this season ends he officially moves from the sidelines to the bleachers to follow the WHS soccer squads.
The Tiger boys’ soccer program began in 1989 and every year but one since then he has been involved with one – or both – of the programs as an assistant or head coach.
“I was the junior varsity coach for the boys in 1989, 90 and 91, and was the boys’ varsity head coach for one year, in 1992,” Morgan said. “They started the girls’ program in 1994 and my daughter was going to be playing and I wanted to be the girls’ head coach. So I resigned as the boys’ coach in 1993. I became the head coach for the girls from ’94-99.”
Morgan ended a 24-year career as a teacher in the Waynesville School System following the 2006-07 school year. He agreed to continue coaching the boys’ and girls’ junior varsity teams in 2007-08 before retiring his coaching positions.
“I probably decided a year ago, when I decided to go ahead and retire from the classroom,” Morgan said. “I approached Josh and (WHS Athletic Director John Morrison) and told them I was interested in coaching one more year and asked if they wanted me to continue to do so. And they said they did.
“This particular group of girls is so good. I wanted to coach all the way through those group of seniors’ careers. It’s been a thrill watching those girls play this year, as they’ve won every non-tournament game they’ve played this year. And, of course Katie (Pritchard) had a tremendous year, breaking the (Missouri large-school career goal-scoring) record. And most people don’t realize it but Tash (Lord) is among the state leaders in career assists as well.”
1 Year Away
There has only been one school year since the programs began that Morgan was not been involved with WHS soccer at all.
“I got out at the end of the ’99 girls’ season,” he said. “I wasn’t satisfied with the way things were going, so in 1999-2000 I didn’t coach. Then the 2001 season had a coaching change in the middle of the year and they asked me to coach jayvee at the end of the season. And in 2001 they added a second assistant job and I applied for it.”
Morgan said he wasn’t expecting a long soccer coaching career; he just wanted to help the new program.
“It’s been fun to watch the whole process evolve,” he said. “They asked me if I wanted to be the head coach when the varsity boys’ program started and I told them no; I had only been involved in youth soccer for two years at the time. But I told them if they hired another good, young head coach who would like to have me as an assistant I’d like to do that.
“And Scott Poertner was the first boys’ coach. He had graduated from Missouri Southern and was only here for one year but did a good job. I learned a lot from him about techniques and tactics; how practices were run. And I felt more comfortable five years later when I started the girls’ program.”
Morgan has watched both the boys’ and girls’ programs slowly progress. And this season the Lady Tigers are the No. 1 district seed and trying to win a district soccer tournament for the first time in school history.
District Winner?
And Morgan would love to be a part of that first-ever WHS district soccer champion.
“There have been a lot of times where we’ve celebrated important wins,” he said. “I’ve had some good times with the kids.”
And even after he’s no longer coaching them, one can bet Morgan will be watching WHS soccer.
“I’ll go to every game I can get to,” he said. “And I’ll continue to do the announcing at the boys’ and girls’ basketball games.
“A number of my kids will be back playing on the boys’ and girls’ soccer teams next season, so I’ll want to go watch them.”
One thing’s for sure…he won’t be carded from the stands.