• THE GEORGETOWN BASKETBALL HISTORY PROJECT

Don Morchower (1953-1956)
 

The tallest player on the Georgetown for three seasons beginning in the 1953-54 season, 6-7 Don Morchower was more of a bench contributor. Owing to a roster weight of 180 lbs, Morchower's reed-like frame was a tough sell inside during some bruising campaigns for the Georgetown squads of the mid-1950's.

Morchower played in 27 games as a sophomore and served as a backup center to Joe Missett for his remaining two seasons. Morchower had just four double-digit scoring games in 74 games, with a career high of 12 his senior season against an outmanned Roanoke College club.

An active student outside basketball, with activities that included The HOYA, WGTB, and the Spanish Club, Morchower received his BSS degree in 1956, to which he began a career with a relatively new field-- computers. A systems analyst for Prudential Life Insurance and later RCA, Morchower also played semipro basketball in the New York, where his 2018 obituary noted he competed in several games against the Harlem Globetrotters.

Over a 20 year career with accounting firm Deloitte, Haskins, and Sells, he rose to national partner of the firm's management consulting division. In 1987, Morchower was hired as chief information officer of Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the New York division of the national insurance consortium. Within three years, he was promoted to chief operating officer, and three years later, was named its chief executive officer.

"I think I'm in shock; this whole thing has just come so quickly," Morchower told the New York Times in a feature entitled "New Chief: Computers And Sports. "Now I've got 9,300 employees to be concerned about."

Morchower served as an executive in the Blue Cross System through 2006 and retired as the chief information officer of CohnReznick LLP, the nation's 11th largest public accounting firm.

Season GP GS Min FG FGA % 3FG 3GA % FT FTA % Off Reb Avg PF Ast Blk Stl Pts Avg
1953-54 27 76 2.8
1954-55 23 25 59 42.3 13 24 54.1 13 0.6 43 70 3.0
1955-56 24 33 66 50.0 21 42 50.0 86 3.5 41 87 3.6
Totals 74 233 3.1