“In the ‘50s, if you weren’t a Dayton fan, you didn’t live here,” he said.
Morton, 75, supports University of Dayton in person and financially as well. He committed $2.1 million to UD in 2011 for scholarships to support students majoring in business while competing in non-revenue sports.
This week, Morton announced the largest corporate full-team name, image and likeness opportunity for Dayton men’s basketball. All the scholarship players, plus walk-on Brady Uhl, will be paid to make appearances at Morton’s H&R Block franchises in Dayton, New Carlisle, Tipp City and Xenia. The players have already been promoting H&R Block on social media and will continue to do so. They will also receive free help with their tax returns.
It’s the latest NIL opportunity for Dayton men’s basketball players and unique in that includes the five international players, who can only take advantage of their NIL rights when they’re out of the country because of rules regarding their student visas.
Toumani Camara, of Belgium, for example, wrote this on Twitter on Nov. 25 when Dayton was in the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis.
“Connecting with loyal fans and earning NIL compensation from the Bahamas,” Camara wrote. “Thankful for an amazing tax partner in H&R Block franchisee Ron Morton who takes care of me. He has franchise locations across the Dayton region.”
Morton is H&R Block’s largest franchisee with 74 locations across eight states. He has nine locations in the greater Dayton region.
The NCAA granted athletes their NIL rights in the summer of 2021. Morton was on board from the start.
“I wanted the team to continue winning,” he said, “and if (fans) don’t participate, they’re not going to get the big-name players. It’s the way it is.”
A 1965 Meadowdale High School graduate, Morton ran track and cross country at Austin Peay University. He and Andrea donated money to that school and had the track at Fortera Stadium named after them in September. To celebrate, Ron ran the first mile on the newly-named track, where he the school record with a time of 16 minutes, 6.3 seconds in the three-mile event as a freshman.
Since the NIL era began, the Mortons have gotten to know the UD players better. Ron said he was scared to say hello to them before because he didn’t want to run afoul of the myriad NCAA rules. Now he can befriend the players and support them.
“I’ll be involved from now on,” Morton said.
PLAYER APPEARANCES
Fans can meet Dayton players at Morton’s H&R Block franchises. Here’s a schedule of their appearances. Fans interested in attending are asked to RSVP at the following link to expedite check-in: https://bit.ly/HRBflyers.
January 22, 2023 (Noon to 2 p.m.): DaRon Holmes II and Brady Uhl at Centerville location (1514 Miamisburg Centerville Rd.).
Wednesday, Feb. 1 (5-7 p.m.): Holmes and R.J. Blakney at Tipp City location (15 S. Tippecanoe Dr.).
Wednesday, Feb. 1 (5-7 p.m.): Malachi Smith and Zimi Nwokeji at New Carlisle location (210 N. Main St.).
Wednesday, Feb. 1 (5-7 p.m.): Koby Brea and Mike Sharavjamts at Xenia location (89 S. Allison Ave).
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