a publication for alumni, family, and friends

Mark Schilling
Sports Information Director

The anticipation of the Dow Jones reaching the 10,000 milestone created quite a stir across America, but at Dakota Wesleyan it's the Morgan family's chase to reach the 10,000-point mark on the basketball court that's being watched with an eagle eye.

The Morgans are 502 points shy of the mark, but with the youngest of Bill and Carol Morgan's children, Randi, on the court, that gap will surely continue to close. It once was considered unthinkable for one family to score 10,000 points, but the Morgans have it within reach, and hope to surpass it.

The Morgan family is very close, and togetherness has always played a major part in the lives of this rural Mitchell family. It's very common for the family to get together several times a week, either for a meal or to watch one or more of the Morgan children play the family's favorite sport, basketball.

"Living on the farm, the kids could not run to town all the time," Carol said. "They had to get along and find things to do among themselves." Bill said the kids grew up playing on the old gravel court in the yard and that the four girls had to learn early on that they had to be tough to play alongside their brothers.

"We all like basketball and it has kept us close, rooting for one another," Bill said. "We never talk about a bad game because you can't bring it back." Carol adds that the small family atmosphere at DWU made the Morgan children comfortable, and that all of them were treated as a person and not a number. "I feel that was the key when the kids were making their decision. I also believe that the fact that Wesleyan is close also helped. None of the kids wanted to be too far from home and they still don't," she said jokingly.

The Morgan family has attended nearly every DWU basketball game since 1987, when Wes made the decision to attend Wesleyan and started a tradition among his five younger brothers and sisters.

"We were given a choice in ninth grade to pick a sport that we wanted to play," said Wes. "Mitchell head basketball coach Gary Munsen told me that if I'd work at basketball he'd help me get a scholarship. I knew at that time I wanted to attend college, so I chose basketball."

Wes remembers spending hours on the gravel basketball court on the family farm. "We had some battles out there. We'd get knocked down, brush the gravel out of our knees, and go back for more," he said. "When it came time to look at colleges I didn't know much about DWU because I'd never been on campus and didn't really know it existed."

But it wasn't long before Wes began to feel the friendly family atmosphere at Wesleyan. "The basketball team was like a family, we would look out for one another, just like brothers," he said. Wes is 14th in the DWU men's basketball all-time scoring list with 1,429 points.

Two years later it was Scott who was looking at colleges. Wanting to play basketball with his older brother and attend a university close to home were the deciding factors for Scott.

"I don't know that there's a better place to play at than Wesleyan. It's a great atmosphere at the Corn Palace and the support fans give is incredible. It was what I was looking for," Scott said.

He says the closeness among his brothers and sisters can be attributed to growing up on the farm, and when they were in grade school they didn't get to town much during the summer to play with friends and classmates. "We did everything together as a family and we still get together," he said. "Today it's the same way. You never need an invitation to go out to the house for supper." Scott is second on the DWU men's basketball all-time scoring list with 2,810 points.

When it came time for Ronda to choose a college, it was no surprise that Dakota Wesleyan was her choice. "I went to DWU because I wanted to be able to keep my job in town, Wes and Scott were there and it was close to home," she said.

When asked about playing against her older brothers on the family basketball court Ronda said, "There's no sympathy. You learn quickly that if you can't take it you need to stay out of the game." Ronda is the leading scorer in DWU women's basketball history with 1,843 points.

Robin said she decided on Wesleyan because she wanted to play basketball with Ronda, Wes was the assistant women's basketball coach and Wesleyan has a good reputation in her major, education. "I'd do it all over again. It was a great experience," she said. Robin is third in the DWU women's all-time scoring list with 1,511 points.

Having grown up watching her older brothers and sisters play basketball, Raven knew she wanted to attend DWU. "I already knew a number of students and faculty, so it was a familiar place. I also wanted to play basketball," she said, adding that the family basketball court was the most competitive court she has ever played on.

"You had to be ready to play when you stepped on the court or you would get knocked down and run over," said Raven. "Even if someone stormed off the court, they'd always come back for more." Raven is fourth on the DWU women's basketball all-time scoring list with 1,302 points.

The youngest of the eight Morgan children, Randi, is the sixth to attend Wesleyan. "In high school most people talked about getting away from home to attend college, but it didn't take me long to realize that I wanted to attend DWU," she said.

Randi signed a letter of intent to play DWU basketball during her junior year of high school. Attending DWU gave her parents and the rest of the family an opportunity to continue watching her play.

"We've always supported one another, and even when we compete against each other we leave it all on the court and have fun," she said. Randi begins her sophomore year at DWU this month. As a freshman last season, she broke the DWU women's basketball single season scoring record with 603 points. She's now setting her sights on her sisters' career marks.

Morgan Milestones

Other Morgan DWU Records