THE Tasmanian racing industry is in mourning over the death of popular racing writer Terry Morris who died in hospital on Monday after a long illness.
Morris, 62, spent most of his working life as a journalist with the Examiner Newspaper, starting out as a cadet at age 16 in 1971.
Football and horse racing were his two great passions with his coverage of football on the North-West Coast considered invaluable to the code in the region.
He was a loyal supporter of North-West football covering the North-West Football Union, Northern Tasmanian Football League and North-West Football League eras.
Horse racing consumed a big part of his life as he raced many horses in partnership with friends and colleagues and his close association with legendary North-West Coast trainers, the late Len Dixon and the late Darrel Baldock, has been well documented.
Morris was a Tasmanian Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame judge and he was always forthright in his attempt to put forward former stars and champions from the North-West region who he believed deserved to be inducted.
He was the Examiner’s chief racing writer before leaving the paper for a short while in the late 1970s to pursue his journalistic career in Western Australia.
On returning to Tasmania in the early 1980s he resettled in his home town of Devonport and assumed the role of The Examiner’s senior North-West sports writer.
His comment pieces in the Examiner on regional football administration matters had an impact on the outcomes of many controversial and complicated issues encountered by the various governing bodies in the region over the years.
As well as racing and football he also enjoyed covering cycling and most other sports.
He attended and covered many Melbourne Cups and he was looking forward to his annual sojourn to next month’s Warrnambool jumps carnival.
He is survived by his mother Lil Morris, brother Rod Morris and his sister Jenny Rundle.