{{Short description|Australian sportsman (1915–1997)}} {{for|the former Speaker of the Navajo Nation Tribal Council|Lawrence T. Morgan}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}} {{Infobox AFL biography | name = Lawrence Morgan | image = | fullname = Lawrence Robert Morgan | birth_date = 5 February 1915 | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|1997|8|15|1915|2|5|df=yes}} | death_place = | originalteam = Yarrawonga<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11058976 |title=Trouble in Two Senior League Football Clubs. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne, Vic. |date=23 April 1937 |accessdate=12 June 2015 |page=15 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> | height = 183 cm | weight = 84 kg | position = | statsend = 1939 | years1 = 1937–39 | club1 = [[Fitzroy Football Club|Fitzroy]] | games_goals1 = 34 (14) | careerhighlights = }} {{MedalTop}} {{MedalSport | [[Equestrian at the Summer Olympics|Equestrian]]}} {{MedalGold | [[1960 Summer Olympics|1960 Rome]] | [[Equestrian at the 1960 Summer Olympics|Eventing]]}} {{MedalGold | [[1960 Summer Olympics|1960 Rome]] | [[Equestrian at the 1960 Summer Olympics|Team eventing]]}} {{MedalBottom}}
'''Lawrence Robert Morgan''' (5 February 1915 – 15 August 1997) was an Australian sportsman who is the only person to play [[Australian Football League|VFL/AFL]] football and win an Olympic gold medal.<ref>[http://corporate.olympics.com.au/news.cfm?ArticleID=6649 Historial{{sic|hide=y}} Vignette] – "Lawrence Morgan dual gold medallist and [[Australian Football League|AFL]] Champion", [[Australian Olympic Committee]] web site, accessed 10 December 2008</ref> He played his [[Australian rules football]] with [[Fitzroy Football Club|Fitzroy]] during the late 1930s and won two gold medals in [[Equestrian at the Summer Olympics|equestrian]] at the [[1960 Summer Olympics]] in Rome.<ref>{{cite Sports-Reference |title=Laurie Morgan |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/mo/laurie-morgan-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203162000/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/mo/laurie-morgan-1.html |archive-date=3 December 2016}}</ref>
Morgan was born in the country and, as a child, raced horses over tree branches with his friend, fellow Olympic equestrian competitor [[Bill Roycroft]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/roycroft-james-william-bill-13382|title=James William (Bill) Roycroft|work=Obituaries Australia|first=Harriet|last=Veitch|date=May 2011|accessdate=20 December 2013}}</ref> When he came to Fitzroy in 1937 he played in the same side as the great [[Haydn Bunton Sr.|Haydn Bunton]]. He spent two further seasons at Fitzroy, both under coach [[Gordon Rattray]], before leaving.
Morgan returned to the sporting scene in 1960, at the age of 45, when he competed for the Australian equestrian team at the Rome Olympics. Riding his horse 'Salad Days', Morgan won the Gold Medal ahead of countryman [[Neale Lavis]] in the Individual Three-Day Event to become the first Australian to win an equestrian gold medal. The former VFL player then teamed up with Lavis and Bill Roycroft to win Gold in the Team Event, best remembered for Roycroft's heroics in riding despite suffering concussion and severe injuries from a previous fall.
Although the Australian Olympic team consisted of big names like [[Herb Elliott]], [[Dawn Fraser]] and [[Murray Rose]], Morgan was the only dual gold medalist.
Morgan's biography, entitled ''Too Tough To Lose'', was completed by his son Warwick Morgan, himself an accomplished horseman, and published in 2012 by Forty Degrees South Publishing (see External Links).
==1937 Best First-Year Players== In September 1937, ''The Argus'' selected Morgan in its team of 1937's first-year players.<ref>[https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11080747 Football Season's Many Good Recruits, ''The Argus'', (Tuesday, 7 September 1937), p.14.]</ref>
{| class="wikitable" ! ! !Best First-Year Players (1937) ! |- |Backs |align=center|[[Bernie Treweek]]<br>(Fitzroy) |align=center|[[Reg Henderson]]<br>(Richmond) |align=center|Lawrence Morgan<br>(Fitzroy) |- |H/Backs |align=center|[[Gordon Waters]]<br>(Hawthorn) |align=center|[[Bill Cahill (Australian footballer)|Bill Cahill]]<br>(Essendon) |align=center|[[Eddie Morcom]]<br>(North Melbourne) |- |Centre Line |align=center|[[Ted Buckley]]<br>(Melbourne) |align=center|[[George Bates (Australian footballer)|George Bates]]<br>(Richmond) |align=center|[[Jack Kelly (Australian footballer)|Jack Kelly]]<br>(St Kilda) |- |H/Forwards |align=center|[[Col Williamson]]<br>(St Kilda) |align=center|[[Ray Watts (footballer)|Ray Watts]]<br>(Essendon) |align=center|[[Don Dilks]]<br>(Footscray) |- |Forwards |align=center|[[Lou Sleeth]]<br>(Richmond) |align=center|[[Sel Murray]]<br>(North Melbourne) |align=center|[[Charlie Pierce (footballer)|Charlie Pierce]]<br>(Hawthorn) |- |Rucks/Rover |align=center|[[Reg Garvin]]<br>(St Kilda) |align=center|[[Sandy Patterson]]<br>(South Melbourne) |align=center|[[Des Fothergill]]<br>(Collingwood) |- |Second Ruck |align=center|Lawrence Morgan |align=center|Col Williamson |align=center|Lou Sleeth |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{AFL Tables|ref=L/Laurie_Morgan.html|name=Laurie Morgan}} * {{Olympedia|name=Laurie Morgan}} * {{Olympics.com|laurence-robert-morgan|Laurence Robert Morgan}} * {{Sport Australia Hall of Fame|laurence-morgan|Laurence Morgan}} * {{AOC|lawrence-morgan|Lawrence Morgan}} * [http://corporate.olympics.com.au/news.cfm?ArticleID=6649 Article from the AOC website] * [http://www.warwickmorgan.com/ "Too Tough To Lose - The Story of Laurie Morgan." Biography by Warwick Morgan. Forty Degrees South Publishing, Hobart, Tasmania, 2012]
{{Olympic champions – Equestrian individual eventing}} {{Olympic champions – Equestrian team eventing}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Lawrence}} [[Category:1915 births]] [[Category:1997 deaths]] [[Category:Australian event riders]] [[Category:Olympic equestrians for Australia]] [[Category:Australian male equestrians]] [[Category:Equestrians at the 1960 Summer Olympics]] [[Category:Olympic gold medalists for Australia]] [[Category:Olympic medalists in equestrian]] [[Category:Fitzroy Football Club players]] [[Category:Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)]] [[Category:Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics]] [[Category:Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees]] [[Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen]]