NORFOLK, Va. – When Hank Morgan got the call from Old Dominion baseball coach Chris Finwood, and was told he would be the 46th winner of the annual Bud Metheny Award, he at first was inclined to turn it down.
"I told Finny I don't deserve this, that there are so many other people around here who've done so much more," said Morgan, long-time manager of the Peninsula Pilots.
"I told him, 'Please give it to someone else.'"
Finwood firmly said the decision has been made and you're getting the award.
It wasn't false modesty. Morgan is a humble guy. During a 40-minute interview, he mentioned dozens of people who have been instrumental in his career and never claimed credit for any of his many baseball accomplishments.
But this is clearly an award he's earned.
A Hampton High graduate who played baseball at VMI and Christopher Newport, he took over as general manager of the Pilots shortly after his father, Henry Morgan, purchased the Coastal Plain League team in 2001.
Henry, incidentally, won the Bud Metheny Award in 2008, making the Morgans the first father-son duo to win the award.
When the team's manager abruptly left the team for another job in 2007, Henry asked Hank to get on the bus with the team, which was headed for road game in Petersburg, to coach the team temporarily. He won 14 of 21 games the rest of the season and was thus named the manager.
Friday night, Morgan will receive the Metheny Award at the ODU baseball program's annual Step Up to the Plate fundraiser at the Priority Automotive Club inside S.B. Ballard Stadium. The event begins at 6 p.m.