Alumnus’ legacy gives a career boost to aspiring sports professionals
As a child, Kim Allen Morton ’71, ’75 discovered University of the Pacific through his family’s love of Tiger football games. As a Pacific student, the avid sports fan relished his experience as a player and manager for the men’s basketball team.
Morton died in 2021, but his legacy lives on at Pacific thanks to a generous gift from his estate. Beginning this fall, the Kim Allen Morton Sports Management and Analytics Endowment will provide internship opportunities for students pursuing careers in sports analytics, coaching and administration.
Internships will support the men’s basketball team, and will target students majoring in sport management and analytics in the Eberhardt School of Business.
“The game of basketball has changed over the last 20-25 years, with shifts in strategy backed by increased analytic capabilities,” explained Eberhardt School Dean Lewis Gale. “Interns will provide analytic and management support that helps our coaches to coach better, and they’ll help our student-athletes understand the importance of data—why it’s needed, and how it helps them play at their best.”
The Morton Endowment will prepare students for a variety of careers in the sports management industry. Interns might assist coaches with game preparation, work one-on-one with players, or develop their analytical skills by studying and reporting on team data.
“Pacific is close to a variety of professional sports teams, and for students to have this real-world, hands-on work experience with our coaching staff sets their resumes apart and makes them much more competitive in interviews,” Gale said.
Morton deeply valued his own time with the team, playing for a year before finding his niche in the manager role and eventually becoming lead manager during an exciting era of games in Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium.
He studied physical education at Pacific, earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and subsequently moved to Texas, where he taught elementary school physical education and served as a reading specialist. Later in life he pursued his passions for genealogy and history.
Morton was an only child and lifelong bachelor who entrusted friends and neighbors to steward his estate. Knowing of his love for sports and education, they felt that directing a memorial gift to Pacific was a natural choice.
“Kim benefitted from everything he did in the basketball program. It offered him friendship and stability, and it guided his whole Pacific experience while also providing some fun and excitement,” said Tom Jones ’70, Morton’s childhood friend and college roommate.
For Jones, who played for the Tigers from 1966-70, the Morton Endowment acknowledges the importance of athletics both to the college experience and in Kim’s life.
“Managers and interns don’t put on a suit or play on the court, but they’re so important to the team’s performance,” he said. “I’m grateful that this gift recognizes the value and efforts of someone in that role, while also honoring Kim and how impactful this program was for him.”
Morton’s neighbor Joan Grajek serves as trustee of the Kim Allen Morton Private Foundation. She knew her friend to be a quiet man who simply wanted to help others.
“Kim was a good person and a great neighbor,” Grajek said. “He had fond memories of Pacific, and it was important to him that students be educated. It was an honor for us to direct this gift to the university in his memory.”
To learn more about making an estate gift to University of the Pacific, contact Molly Byrne at 209.946.2780 or firstname.lastname@example.org.