Morris believed his new purpose in life was to inspire his students and players to dream bigger dreams than their harsh west Texas surroundings usually allowed. Morris made his players work hard in baseball practice -- in fact, the players complained that their coach threw the ball so hard they could barely hit it.

After a few discouraging results, Morris gave his players a pep talk. Their response was a bet with their coach: If the team won the league championship, he would have to try out for a major league ball club. They did -- and he did, and during that tryout threw the ball faster than he ever had, faster than anyone there, nearly faster than anyone playing in the bigs. He was immediately signed by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and three months later he made his major league debut, striking out All-Star shortstop Royce Clayton.