Morgan was born in 1944 in a three-room shack in the Nantahala Mountains of North Carolina. He is the seventh of ten children. In 1956, his family moved to Guilford County near Greensboro, NC. He graduated in 1962 from Colfax Union School. Despite receiving several basketball scholarships, he chose to stay close to home by attending High Point University, graduating in 1966. Morgan holds a Master of Education and Education Specialist degrees and principal's certificate from the University of NC-Greensboro. His teaching career began in the fall of 1966 at Ferndale Junior High in High Point, NC. Later he taught in Davidson County before becoming the principal of Nantahala School, his alma mater. He went on to an administrative position in Randolph County, NC, from which he retired in 1996.
