My man, Shack Harris

[dustinadam]

Been a long time, but this guy was the truth.

And I think his work in an NFL front office is even more impressive than what he did on the field.

Our lasting legend
Monroe's James Harris has been a groundbreaker all along


His college and high school coaches always believed James "Shack" Harris could play.

His folks, well, that was another matter.

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Harris, a future standout at both Carroll High and Grambling, had a brother who'd been injured on the gridiron.

It took a long talk from former Carroll assistant Curtis Armand, himself a former Grambling player under Eddie Robinson, to convince Harris' parents.
"He said I could get a scholarship," remembered Harris, now vice president of player personnel for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars. "They understood what a free education meant."

What came next was a magical career around football.

James Larnell Harris, born in Monroe on July 20, 1947, would win five championships playing football in Louisiana, then crash through the NFL's color barrier as a black quarterback and front-office executive.

Heads up on the classic picture, too ...

http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060626/SPORTS/606260330/1006

 

[EB]

James Harris could play! He deserved a lot more playing time than he received. I especially remember his game winning drive over the Vikings when the Rams and the Vikings along with Dallas and Washington were consistently the best teams in the NFC. (Even the Cardinals had a few good teams then.) The winning score came with less than a minute to play.

.....

"I never really got a chance to play up to my capabilities," he said. "I was always trying to play perfectly, because if you made a mistake ? you were out."

Perfection took too long, often leaving him with no open options. The highlight reels from back then, it seems, always show Harris running for his life.

"I would hold that ball a little longer trying to make sure I didn't get it picked off," Harris said. "In college and high school, I had played loose. You knew if you made a mistake, the coach would just call it again ? not send you home."

.....

Those things can make a big difference in how well someone plays.