Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Morse later moved to Portland, Oregon, where he graduated from Benson Polytechnic High School in 1931.

[1] Morse attended the University of Oregon, where he was a two-time all-Pacific Coast Conference end, and an All-American in his senior year of 1934, when he was also team co-captain.

Morse played for the Lions until 1940, when he was drafted into the United States Army Air Corps.

[2][3] In 1944, he was an assistant coach for the Air Corps' Randolph Field Flyers in the 1944 Cotton Bowl Classic, in which the Flyers tied the heavily favored Texas Longhorns, 7–7.

[2] Morse married Alice Marie Simonsen in 1935 in Portland, and the couple had three children.