The 1980 Soviet Union hockey team wasn’t just the best hockey team of all time; they were arguably the best athletic team ever assembled. They had just dismantled the NHL All Stars in the third game of a best of three series in a stunning 6-0 blowout victory. The unfair rules of Olympic competition at the time allowed Communist countries like the USSR to use professional players (pretending them to be amateurs) while the USA could only use college players for the most part. The odds for the USA in the 1980 winter Olympics hockey against the Soviets were horrible at best. No one could withstand the Soviet juggernaut, least of all a collection of college kids.

But that 1980 team didn’t get the memo. And neither did their star defenseman, Ken Morrow.

The Herb Books-led squad went on to defeat the vaunted Soviets 3-2, and Morrow was on the ice during those final frantic minutes of that iconic win, including Al Michaels's famous question that framed a generation of hockey in America, “DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?” Two days later Team USA defeated Finland to capture the Gold medal in Lake Placid, a feat not matched again for 46 years when the USA triumphed with the Gold in 2026.

Morrow's Flintstone roots are strong, Ken's dad, Don, was a Flint Central Indian, and a great athlete and baseball player there. Strong family ties shaped Morrow’s youth, and so did playing sports in Flint. Born and raised on Kellar Avenue on the city’s West Side, he played his hockey in backyards and on Flint city rinks like Memorial Park, Lincoln Park, and Whaley Park on the East Side, evolving to the Greater Flint Hockey Association at the IMA. Morrow says, “I am a product of my Flint childhood - a working-class mindset and a solid work ethic that set a foundation for me at a young age.”

His family later moved to Davison where he a graduated from Davison High School, though he never played hockey in Davison or for the school. That’s because Morrow was so good he was focused on travel hockey and competing against the best metro Detroit could throw at him. That experience led him to college hockey at Bowling Green where he was the school’s first hockey All American, and the 1979 Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) Player of the Year.

That success led him to Coach Herb Brooks and the 1980 US Olympic Hockey squad, the Miracle on Ice Team. Immediately following his Olympic triumph, Morrow signed with the New York Islanders, who had drafted him in 1976. In doing so, he made history by becoming the first hockey player to win an Olympic Gold medal and an NHL Stanley Cup championship in the exact same season. He became an indispensable defensive anchor for the Islanders' historic 1980s dynasty, helping the franchise capture four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980 to 1983. Ken was known for his reliability and clutch playoff goals.

Morrow was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1995. He has spent over three decades working in executive and coaching roles, serving as the Islanders' Director of Pro Scouting since 1993.

You can also visit this episode at Fish's website: https://www.flintchronicles.com/