A tough love

Two football-playing brothers at Needham say hard times have made them stronger

(Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff) Doug Morgan (left), 18, a senior fullback on Needham High School's football team, keeps an eye on his brother, Zach, 17, linebacker on the squad.

Doug and Zach Morgan hold the words of their late mother close to their hearts.

Tough times never last, but tough people do.

The two brothers approach every challenge with an upbeat approach. They tackle practices with enthusiasm.

This morning at 10, the pair will suit up for the Needham High football team together for the final time, when the Rockets host Wellesley at Memorial Field in one of the nation's oldest high school football rivalries.

A senior fullback who delivers the blocks for star tailback Jean Baptiste, Doug Morgan tries to make the best moments out of the worst and is one of the Rockets' most vocal players. A tenacious competitor, he has accepted his role as primarily a blocker, not complaining about his lack of carries (he has six rushes this season), and he will not back away from any collision.

Zach Morgan, 18 months Doug's junior, is a backup fullback and a significant contributor at linebacker. He's a bit more humble than his sibling, but no less upbeat.

"It is a bond between the brothers that the kids have, and that never leaves them," said Needham head coach David Duffy.

Three years ago, within the span of 19 months, Doug and Zach Morgan lost both of their parents to cancer. Divorced since the boys were toddlers, they were mentors and beloved role models who drilled that eight-word motto into their heads from an early age: Tough times never last, but tough people do.

Janet Morgan, a probation officer for many years in Dedham, succumbed to pancreatic cancer in April 2005. In November 2006, Douglas Morgan lost a long battle with multiple myeloma, a rare form of cancer that affects bone marrow. Zach and Doug were just two months into their freshman and sophomore years, respectively, when their father died.

The memories are still fresh.

"It's built a lot of character. You know who your friends are. It builds you, it makes you stronger," Zach said. "I mean, yeah, it's a big obstacle, but it's definitely raised my maturity level. It's made us who we are now.

"We don't take stupid things for granted. We cherish the little things in life that a lot of people walk by."

Says Doug, choking up, "You learn to love the people around you a lot more. As one of my teachers says, shower the people you love with love."

The Morgan brothers live in Needham with two families, Doug with the Fitzgeralds and Zach with the Crays.

John and Barbara Fitzgerald have opened their home on Highland Street to Doug. Baptiste also often stays with the Fitzgeralds on weekends.

Before he moved in his sophomore year, Doug lived for a year with his stepmother in Wellesley, and attended Wellesley High School through his freshman year.

Barbara Fitzgerald considers hosting Doug as a way of acknowledging a favor done on her behalf when she was a teen growing up in San Diego. An only child, her parents divorced during her adolescent years. When her mother "got into trouble," Fitzgerald said, she moved in with one of her best friends, joining a family with eight children.

"A lot of that is me paying them back," said Fitzgerald. "It was a fun time to be there - chaotic, and this and that, but we were active and all about the family."

She and her husband have five children: Brian, 20; Matt, 19; Thomas, 17; Janet, 16; and Molly, 15.

Teammate Baptiste says of Doug Morgan: "I like his style. He's really pumped up. I love running behind him." He also says Doug is "a lot more organized" than he is. "When he finds out he needs to do something, he writes it down. Me? I'm kind of a last-minute guy."

Zach, meanwhile, has been living with Gene and Terri Cray, on Upland Road, since the eighth grade. But as for being the quieter of the two? Terri laughs. "He said that? . . . That's just not the adjective I'd use to describe him."

But when asked about Zach's maturity, she cites another virtue: resilience.

"It's just a tremendous amount of loss for a teenage boy," said Terri, whose son Kevin is a junior on the football team. "His spirits are generally good; he's an upbeat kid. It's amazing to me. I don't think most kids could be that resilient."

Their late father's brother, Tom Morgan, a Revere resident, serves as the brothers' legal guardian.

One would never guess their losses, judging by their effervescence. Duffy recalls Doug being habitually late for practice a year ago - but he was, of course, coming from a different club every day. Doug counts mock trial, Model UN, the Mandarin Club, and Model Congress among his activities. He says he plans to join the environmental club and start a badminton club after the season.

Today marks his last chance to stand beside his brother in the traditional Thanksgiving Day highlight, an event like no other, determined to help the 5-5 Rockets secure a winning season.

"Not playing with him" on the football team after today, Doug said, "it's going to be an emotional moment in a lot of senses. But then again, it's the Wellesley game. There's already a ton of emotions going into that game."

It was Zach who encouraged his older brother to go out for Pop Warner football as a sixth-grader, when they played together on Needham's "E" squad.

And Zach backs him up, constantly asking him for advice. His brother, Zach said, taught him "hard work. If you want something, you have to go after it. Never take a play off, work until the whistle."

"Tough times never last, but tough people do," Doug reiterates. "It's definitely a quote I live by."

Brendan Hall can be reached at bhall59@hotmail.com.