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Joe Morgan

Morgan, an Emmy-award-winning broadcaster for ESPN, columnist for ESPN.com, and East Bay businessman, will be presented with the honorary degree on Saturday, June 14 during the 2 p.m. graduation ceremonies for the university's College of Business and Economics on the Hayward campus of the university.

"This degree is awarded to one who has demonstrated intellectual and humane values that are consistent with the aims of higher education, and with the highest ideals of a person's chosen field," said Mohammad H. Qayoumi, president of Cal State East Bay. "This award is reserved for individuals who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary achievement and embody the objectives and ideals of the California State University."

Morgan, who resumed his college education at CSUEB in the 1980s after he retired as a baseball player, said that earning a bachelor's degree "might have been more important to me than being inducted into the Hall of Fame" because he promised his parents that he would earn one after his playing career. He attended Merritt Community College in Oakland in the early 1960s prior to starting his MLB career with the Houston Colt 45s-which later became the Houston Astros.

"It (earning a bachelor's degree) means a lot to me because it makes my family proud," the Oakland native said. "Anything that makes my mom and dad proud is very important to me because they were the guiding lights on my childhood and my formative years.

"Getting a college education helped me after baseball. I think it gives me credibility when I tell a kid in high school to consider college. That's important when talking with my own kids about education. The things I learned through my education helped me to play the game better and helped me to carry myself better so I could get to the Hall of Fame. All the things I've done education-wise have contributed to who I am today."

Besides his media career with ESPN, and before that with ABC Sports, the 64-year old Morgan has been an East Bay businessman while serving as an advocate for young people and philanthropist through the Joe Morgan Youth Foundation.

He credits former Cal State East Bay educator Stan Clark for helping him resume his college education after his 22-year playing career ended.

"Stan and I played high school baseball together," Morgan said. "We remained friends throughout the years, and we talked about how important education is. Stan was the leader in that direction."

Clark retired in 2005 after serving in a variety of professorial and administrative capacities during his more than 30 years at CSUEB.

With his friend's help, Morgan in 1984 established a scholarship fund for the university's Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education (http://edschool.csueastbay.edu/departments/kpe/morgan.html) and has contributed more than $150,000 towards an endowment for the fund.

Morgan played for Houston, Cincinnati, the San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, and Oakland Athletics between 1963 and 1984, during which he produced 2,517 hits, 268 homeruns, 689 stolen bases and 1,133 runs-batted-in.