Morgan's long, colorful, winning career recognized

The South High athlete was an unofficial ambassador of goodwill for the U.S.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- The late Langston Carl "L.C." Morgan, a native of Youngstown who attended South High, was a boxer not only because he liked the sport but because it gave him an opportunity to travel around the world and experience life in other lands.
Morgan, who had 125 fights in a 15-year career and posted a 79-43-3 record, was one of 12 selections to the California Boxing Hall of Fame Class of 2005 in November, and one of two posthumous choices along with sports columnist Jim Murray.
The other selections were Andy "Kid" Heilman, Lonnie Bennett, Lou Filippo, Danny "Little Red" Lopez, Alvaro "Yaqui" Lopez, Dan Goossen, Ken Thompson, Joe Goossen, Joe Olmos and Marty Denkin.
Morgan, who made his home in Los Angeles where he operated his own gym and trained boxers, died in 1987 at the age of 53 after a career dominated by boxing since he was a teenager.
He is survived by two daughters, Sharon and Crystal Morgan, and two sons, Kevin and Langston Morgan, all from Los Angeles; one sister, Loretta Clayton of Las Vegas; and nephews and nieces.
Kevin followed in his father's footsteps and also was a boxer and is now a trainer.
Ambassador of goodwill
Morgan is considered to be one of the busiest and most-traveled boxers in history. He also served as an unofficial ambassador of goodwill for America.
Although fighting 125 bouts is impressive enough, nephew Alan Williams of Youngstown said that there actually were more bouts that went undocumented.
"L.C. told me that he had close to 200 fights," said Williams, who is married to L.C.'s niece, Maryann Welcher. "Then when [we got the computer printout], all they could account for was the 125. That was what L.C. told the family, that he had close to 200 fights."
Besides America, Morgan fought in Mexico, Hawaii, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, England and Italy before retiring in 1969. He fought 56 bouts in Mexico.
Busy boxer
He also was one of the busiest boxers ever, fighting an average of eight times a year. His busiest years were 1958, 1963 and 1964 when he fought 16 times each year.
He also is considered one of the all-time top punchers in the lightweight division: Of his 79 wins, 55 were by knockouts.
One of his early pro wins was a 10-round victory over Glen Flanagan, rated one of the best lightweights in the Midwest.
Morgan also defeated Ludwig Lightburn, Joe Miceli, "Tombstone" Smith, Don Jordan, Eddie Perkins, Jose Napoles and Carlos Hernandez -- the latter four going on to win world championships.
Morgan lost his last seven bouts and then retired in 1969 at age 35 after 15 years (1954-69) in the ring.
Ran his own gym
"After he completed his boxing career, be became a trainer and had his own gym in L.A.," said Williams. "He was an easy guy to talk to. I guess he loved that sport boxing and that's what we used to talk about all the time."
Williams said he never saw or heard anything that would indicate that Morgan became adversely affected in later years by having close to 200 fights.
"He never mentioned anything at all about that," said Williams. "He was all right until he got sick with liver cancer."
A football and baseball standout at South High, Morgan turned pro in 1954 after a successful amateur career with an 18-2 record as a featherweight, including Youngstown and Cleveland Golden Gloves Championships in 1953 and 1954. He also won an AAU national featherweight title in 1953.
Quit school for boxing
Williams said Morgan never graduated from South High.
"He was in the 12th grade then stopped [going to school] and got into boxing because college wouldn't pick him up because he was so small," said Williams, noting that Morgan "fought primarily between 132-140 pounds.
In fact, Williams said niece Maryann recalled that Morgan was referred to as " 'Skinny Legs Morgan.' "
Williams didn't know why Morgan spent so much time fighting in Mexico.
"Kevin is doing the same thing now," Williams said. "He has a lot of his fighters going to Mexico to fight.
"Apparently those guys like it there."