Morsani Visits Practice, Instills Life Lessons
By Joey Johnston
He arrived in a golf cart, making the rounds at Monday morning's USF football practice. When the Bulls were done working, they all took a knee on the practice field at the Frank Morsani Football Complex.
Frank Morsani himself was there to speak.
"One of the most special men I've ever met,'' coach Jeff Scott said.
"He's something else,'' center Brad Cecil said.
It was story time for Morsani, 90, the Tampa businessman who was one of the key figures behind the formation of USF football, a pertinent subject as the program prepares for its 25th anniversary season.
"There was a lot of work done the last 25 years to get USF football to this point and we don't take it for granted,'' Scott said. "There's a huge opportunity to move it forward and a huge responsibility.
"We want Mr. Morsani to be very proud of the way these young men represent their university and community. We want them to be the type of men who leave here and become great fathers and husbands. The success we're going to have on the football field and the success we're going to bring to this university, it all (began) with the work of people like Mr. Morsani.''
It all had a humble beginning.
Morsani remembered going to a downtown meeting with then-USF president Frank Borkowski, who had just hired civic icon Lee Roy Selmon to help with the football program's launch.
"Frank (Borkowski) stood up and said, 'And Frank Morsani has volunteered to head up the start of the football program,' '' Morsani said. "Well, that was the first I'd heard of that. I said, 'Frank, I don't know what you're talking about. There were 17 kids in my (high) school. I never played football. I don't go to football games.'
"He just said, 'OK, Frank, you'll get it done.' ''
Morsani did just that. USF athletics was charged with raising a $5-million endowment to move forward, then doubling it to $10-million before seeking program approval from the State Board of Regents.
"We literally went from Hernando County to Fort Myers, to every rotary club and chamber of commerce there was,'' Morsani said. "Have speech, will travel. We spoke to everyone in this entire region, trying to raise money.
"We had a list of people who would be at the meeting and we were trying to find out what was in their pocketbook (finances). I'd tell Lee Roy, 'Well, we're going to ask this fella for a half-million dollars.' Lee Roy would say, 'Frank, you can't do that.' And I said, 'I don't want to insult his pocketbook. I know he can do it or else we wouldn't be here.' ''
When USF was seeking formal approval for football, there were questions about the finances. Would all the pledges actually come through? Morsani pointed out that civic leaders had just raised $31-million for the downtown Performing Arts Center and only one-half of 1 percent of those pledges failed to be collected.
"I said, 'This community pays its pledges,' '' Morsani said. "We got approval.''
Morsani and his wife Carol have generously donated to all sorts of USF projects through the years. The football program, though, holds a special place in his heart.
"I hope you're better men for the effort you make here and for what this university will offer you,'' Morsani told the USF players. "It will offer you everything you take from it.
"I've had a wonderful life, coming from the hills and backwoods of Arkansas and Oklahoma, to so many great things that have happened on my watch. You can do anything you want to do if you decide you want to do it. Whenever the door opens, you've got to walk through it. Through my military career and my business career, that's what I've done, just walked through it and known when to walk through it.''
Morsani said he didn't pick up a golf club until he was 60, mostly because he had thousands of people across the country working in his companies and felt guilty about leaving his work. Now at age 90, he plays golf four times a week, sometimes shooting his age.
"You wouldn't recognize the game I play,'' he said with a laugh.
But Scott told a different story.
"I went out and played with him twice and he beat me both times,'' Scott said. "He's a very humble man who has given back in so many ways. Mr. Morsani has had an incredible impact on so many lives. Without the work he did, none of us are even here. We can't lose sight of that. We have to respect the work he did for this program and how much it still means, 25 years later.''
