Morley was born in 1876 at Cimarron in Colfax County, New Mexico. His parents were William Raymond Morley, Sr. (1846–1883), and Ada (McPherson) Morley (1852–1917). His father was the chief engineer for the Santa Fe Railroad and later edited The Cimarron News and managed the Maxwell land grant in Cimarron. Morley\'s father was killed in 1883 from an accidental shooting in Mexico. Morley was six years old at the time of his father\'s death. His father left extensive land holdings in the Datil Mountains near Datil, New Mexico. After his father\'s death, his mother remarried, and moved with her three young children (one boy and two girls) and her new husband, Floyd Jarrett, to the Datil Mountains. Jarrett abandoned the family in approximately 1889, and Morley\'s mother raised her children in a log house roofed with adobe sod. Morley\'s sister, Agnes Morley Cleaveland (1874–1958), later wrote a best-selling book titled "No Life for a Lady" about their life in the Datil Mountains.\n', '

Morley was sent east to be educated and reportedly attended school in 18 states. He received a civil engineering degree from the Pennsylvania Military Academy in Chester, Pennsylvania. He first played football at the military academy.\n', '

Morley later attended the University of Michigan where he received a bachelor of science degree in 1896. While attending Michigan, he was the backup quarterback on the 1895 Michigan Wolverines football team that laid claim to the Western football championship. He was five feet, six inches tall and weighed 147 pounds as a football player at Michigan. Morley\'s sister, Agnes, was also a student at Michigan during the 1895–96 academic year. After graduating from Michigan, Morely worked for the Santa Fe Railroad. Some reports indicate that he also worked for a time as the sheriff of Socorro County, New Mexico.\n', '

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