William G. Morgan, c. 1895-1896

Morgan, born in 1870, was a student at the Mount Hermon Preparatory School in Northfield, MA when he caught the eye of James Naismith, Springfield College faculty member and inventor of basketball, at a football game. Naismith encouraged Morgan to attend Springfield College (then the International YMCA Training School). Morgan graduated in 1894 and became a physical director at the YMCA in Auburn, Maine. In 1895 he left Maine and became a physical director at the YMCA in Holyoke, MA. While working as the physical director at the YMCA in Holyoke, Morgan developed the game of volleyball (originally called "mintonette) as a less strenuous alternative to basketball for middle-aged business men. Morgan's game combined elements of both basketball and badminton and was first debuted at Springfield College. Morgan left the YMCA in 1897 to begin work with General Electric and Westinghouse but maintained his ties to the college and the game he created. Morgan died in 1942 at the age of 72.

A cabinet card of William G. Morgan, the inventor of Volleyball, taken while he was working as a physical director at the Auburn, Maine YMCA. The card is signed by Morgan and dated 1896. It was given to the college by Morgan in 1932.