From bandmate to tennis coach to Uber driver: what keeps Gene Morris going?
INDIAN HILLS, Colo. — Inventor, musician, tennis player, coach, and most recently Uber driver are the various professions that have sustained Gene Morris’ life over the last several decades, including what he considers a robust spiritual path.
“I just love God’s creation, and I love to get out in it and explore and experiment with life. A lot of things I don’t understand, but I don’t have to understand them to enjoy them. So that’s kind of where I am in life,” he explained, while sitting outside next to his violin, which was leaning up against a park bench.
Morris says even though he is 71 years old, in his mind, he feels more like 17.
“I’ve been around for a while. I guess you could say I’m old enough to be a sage and that’s kind of dangerous because it means I have a trace of wisdom in there, and I know just enough to be dangerous, but the love of life keeps me like a teenager,” he explained with a laugh.
Morris told Rocky Mountain PBS that he plays the trumpet, piano, harmonica, violin and viola, which, according to his Facebook page made it easy for five-time Grammy winning singer/songwriter Christopher Cross to ask Morris to be a performer in his band.
“I played with Christopher Cross, and I think that’s where I learned a lot about the industry,” he added, explaining how that was the highlight of his career. “It was more than just the music; we would socialize and eat out. I got to know him.”
Morris’ Facebook page also talks about his 30-to-40-year career as a tennis coach; he claims to have worked with a few of the greats like Andy Roddick and Martina Navratilova.
He said his transition to tennis was an easy decision after his wife decided that going on a rock and roll tour with Christopher Cross wasn’t going to happen since they had a young son at home.
“My son was one at the time — my first-born, Nathan — and I was talking about going on the road for a year and my wife was like, ‘drugs, sex, and rock and roll? I don’t think so darling,’” he said with a laugh. “And she was right.”
"If I’d gone on tour, I’d probably not be alive today, so I picked up tennis as my income over the next 40 or so years and was able to raise my kids and afford a family,” he said.
These days Morris is an Uber driver which he says pays for patent attorney’s fees for his development of a contraption called the "wave," that helps violins sound better during studio recordings.
“One of the things I discovered while playing violin in the studio [is that] you have this wonderful hollow wood bodied instrument right next to your ear, and when I went into the studio and played, I wasn’t hearing that. It sounded like a rubber band; very thin, it didn’t have this rich wood sounds,” Morris explained.
Overall, Morris feels his life has been a lucky one. “I’m blessed because I get to hop in a car and meet people and I always carry my fiddle on the dash," he said. "You know, with the road rage, I can look at my fiddle and just chill out and realize this too shall pass."
Julio Sandoval is a senior photojournalist with Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach him at juliosandoval@rmpbs.org.