Morse was born at the American Consulate in Kobe, Japan, where his family owned a large factory and "an immense amount of property.

In November 1893, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported: Princetonians are greatly elated over the return Frank Morse, half-back on last year's team.

... Morse played quarter-back in the '91 team and won laurels at half-back in the Thanksgiving game last year.

[3]Though press accounts do not indicate how his father's objections were overcome, Morse was the starting halfback for the 1893 Princeton football team and was named an All-American at the end of the season.

The 1893 Princeton team was known as the "perfect team" and filled five of eleven spots on the 1893 All-American team—Morse at halfback, Philip King at quarterback, Art "Beef" Wheeler at guard, Langdon "Biffy" Lea at tackle, and Thomas "Doggie" Trenchard at end.

Three of those players, Wheeler, Lea and King have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

In November 1893, The World of New York published a full-page profile on the physical conditioning of the Princeton and Yale football teams.

He possesses a singular faculty of preserving a certain amount of self-control throughout all of his somersaults and never receives but temporary injuries.

"[9] Morse returned to the lineup for the Penn game and put on a display that drew praise for his "pluck" but also dismay at the physical beating he took.

[12]Morse also gained fame as the model for a famous drawing by Charles Dana Gibson titled "The Halfback."

[15]Coach Morse impressed reporters before his first Princeton-Yale game by asserting that his players were in fine physical condition "after months of scientific training": It is really refreshing to hear a man who knows his player perfectly say, on the eve of the great game of the year, that his men are in perfect fettle.

[15]After coaching the 1896 Princeton team, Morse began a career in the Asian importing business.

[2] In 1905, Morse returned to the public eye as the result of a divorce involving charges of physical abuse and desertion.

"[1] In December 1905, a warrant was issued for Morse's arrest, and the details of the allegations were published in the eastern press.

[16] After spending many years in Asia, Morse moved to San Francisco where he became the western sports editor for the Associated Press.