R.I.P.: Jeannie Morrison, Chicago's Pioneering Sports Reporter

Jeannie Morris

Pioneering Chicago woman sports reporter Jeannie Morris died Monday from appendiceal cancer, for which she had been undergoing treatment for the last year. 

She was 85 reports The Chicago Tribune. 

“My mom had a stack of accomplishments. She woke up every morning curious, grateful and spring-loaded to say, ‘Yes,’ ” said her daughter Holly, a filmmaker and author. “That inspires me the most. The levity and bravery she brought to the last weeks of her life was a master class in dignity.”

“Jeannie was an incredible trailblazer,” said her former WBBM-Ch. 2 colleague Pam Zekman. “She was a model not only for women seeking to break down barriers in sports but for those trying to convince media bosses that we could handle hard news. I marveled at her accomplishments in both print and television. She was smart, creative and had an engaging personality both on and off the air.”

A high school cheerleader in her native Redondo Beach, Calif., Jeannie Myers married football great Johnny Morris in 1960. They had known each other casually in college, at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the Bears drafted Johnny to play flanker in 1958. For the first years of their marriage, Jeannie stayed in California while her husband spent the season in Chicago. She joined him in Chicago in the fall of 1963.

She would have an impact on TV viewers and attract a large circle of friends. Documentary producer Sharon Barrett said: “She was such a force and never one to boast about an award or accomplishment. She chose work that was meaningful to her. The long conversations we would have always left me feeling that my brain just had a good zap of energy. She was passionate about so, so much.”