Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Sons Of Thunder
Brothers Sterling and Lincoln Morphis, bestowed with distinguished monikers, transfer energy whenever their names are spoken becoming in effect, “Sons of thunder.”
Every time Sterling, who graduated in May, scored a touchdown, busted a 3-pointer, or caught a pass last season, his name reverberated throughout the arena on the loud speaker.
Charleston couldn’t bear the sound, refusing to shake hands with Sterling after his 42-point explosion on the basketball court dealt them their first conference loss in January. Prairie Grove had its fill watching Sterling haul in 7 receptions for 172 yards and 4 touchdowns in the Wolves’ 59-48 triumph, breaking a 19-game losing streak in the series last November.
During his senior season, Sterling caught 45 passes for 700 yards and 12 touchdowns helping Lincoln go 8-3 and take a No. 3 seed out of the 4A-1 into the playoffs. “Whenever we knew we were going to have Sterling, in deciding on a name, it was just a name that immediately came to my mind,” said the boys’ father, Russell Morphis.
“I’ve always thought of it as just a beautiful name, but also I don’t know why, it was something stuck in my head as just a great name for him and he looks like a Sterling, he acts like a Sterling. I’ve had a lot of people comment before, ‘hey, how’d you come up with that name?’ Lots of times it’s associated with as an older name, way back more people were named Sterling, but it’s one that stands out and I think it fits him perfect.”
This season, younger brother Lincoln Morphis (5-11, 145 pounds) aims to make a name for himself. Lincoln football coach Don Harrison talks about utilizing him in the secondary.
“Lincoln Morphis is a sophomore who could see some time at cornerback. He does a good job for us,” Harrison said.
The dynamics of the boys’ first names began with their parents, Russell Morphis and Mandy Kester, of Lincoln, who imparted names to empower their sons to reach their destiny.
Russell Morphis admits a lot of people ask, “did you name him Lincoln because you guys live in Lincoln?’ He said that has nothing to do with it. “As soon as we found out that we were going to have another boy, the first thing was that we didn’t even have to go through names. It was like ‘Lincoln, I think that’s it.’ Both me and his mother, both are like ‘Lincoln sounds great,’” Russell Morphis said. “With Lincoln, that’s just another one that you don’t hear every day, but it’s not trying to name him or Sterling because you don’t hear it often. Those are just names that immediately came to my mind. I think Lincoln is another one of those names that makes you stand up and take notice of that name.”
Notice has been served. Opponents best heed the warning.
Lincoln Morphis finds himself postured to let his name deal out something of a double-whammy. When he makes a play announcers can punctuate the impact by declaring something to the effect of “Lincoln succeeding for Lincoln.”
If that causes confusion, opponents might want to check the roster. Look out for No. 13. Wilt Chamberlain scored an NBA record 100 points wearing that jersey and Lincoln Morphis won’t hesitate to bring his to every football game.
Thunder rolls off the tip of the tongue.