James Harris thrived at quarterback under Eddie Robinson at Grambling State

James Harris was groomed for success. Most successful people get to where they are with a good mentor and when Harris stepped on campus to play football for Grambling State University in 1965, he had the ultimate teacher in head coach Eddie Robinson.

Robinson’s credentials at Grambling are staggering. In 55 seasons, Robinson compiled a 408-165-15 record, capturing 17 Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships and nine Black College National Championships. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997. Harris, who quarterbacked the Tigers from 1966-68, was one of Robinson’s first true stars.

As a senior, Harris passed for 1,972 yards and 21 touchdowns on only 225 attempts. In three years as Grambling’s starting quarterback, he led the Tigers to a 24-5-1 record. Standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 210 pounds, Harris was the prototypical quarterback, physically imposing, athletic and a proven winner. Robinson saw greatness in Harris, but it would take much more for pro scouts to see the light.

“Coach Robinson had the utmost confidence in me that I could play,” said Harris. “And that meant a lot, knowing how he felt. He thought I had a chance in making it (in the NFL) if I was given the opportunity. The opportunity to play was the concern.”

Opportunity was something Harris had to struggle with because he was the wrong color at the wrong position at the wrong time. Until Marlin Briscoe started for the Denver Broncos in 1968, no pro football team had ever started an African American at quarterback. Briscoe was released and then converted to wide receiver the following year despite setting Broncos records for passing yards and touchdowns for a rookie.

“It was totally unrealistic to really think that you had a chance to play,” said Harris. “There were all types of reasons why blacks weren’t playing quarterback, saying we weren’t smart enough to play. In the league (the NFL), those were the conditions that you were playing under.”

Going into the 1969 NFL Draft, Harris was asked by several teams to switch positions. Harris wasn’t about to play tight end or defensive end, he was a quarterback. If Robinson had confidence in him as an NFL quarterback, then he could make it even if the odds were staked against him.

Harris, who had the talent of a first or second round draft choice, fell to the Buffalo Bills in the eight round. With Buffalo, Harris opened training camp fifth on the depth chart and he was constantly worried about being cut. As a low round draft choice, Harris was expendable and he worked every day to prove to the coaching staff that he was worthy of making the team. By the opening game of the season, Harris had moved all the way to the top of the depth chart, but adversity would be in his near future.

In the 1969 opener, Harris was named the starter but an injury that day would sidetrack his pro football career. Harris played in just four games that season and just 18 games in his three years in Buffalo. By 1972, Harris was released and working for the Department of Commerce in Washington D.C. Just when Harris thought his football career was over, he received a call from the Los Angeles Rams that resurrected his career.

By 1974, Harris was not only starting for the Rams, he was starring for them. Harris accumulated 16 touchdowns in only 11 games that season and jumpstarted Los Angeles to a 10-4 season. In the NFC Championship Game, Harris nearly led his team to the Super Bowl, but the Minnesota Vikings prevailed 14-10 on a fourth quarter go-ahead touchdown. It would be another 13 years before Doug Williams became the first African American quarterback to start in the Super Bowl.

Harris was named to the Pro Bowl after the 1974 season and his success continued the following year before injuries once again curtailed his career. Following the 1979 season, Harris retired from the NFL after an 11-year roller-coaster ride in pro football.

Eleven years as a quarterback is a staggering accomplishment for a player most teams only considered as a tight end on draft day. Today, Harris is the one in charge of who plays and who does not. Harris was named vice president of player personnel for the Jacksonville Jaguars on January 23, 2003. He is responsible for all player acquisitions, including the annual college draft, unrestricted free agents, veteran free agents, trades and undrafted rookies.

In the 2003 NFL Draft, Harris selected Byron Leftwich, an African American quarterback, as his first ever pick with the seventh overall selection. Leftwich is now one of the rising superstars in the game. As ironic as that seams, Harris maintains that he evaluates talent solely on player evaluations, the way it should have been over thirty years ago.

You could say that Harris has come full circle in his professional life, but he hasn’t stopped there. There has been adversity is his life and sharing his stories of perseverance was one of the reasons he became a founding member of an organization called “The Field Generals.”

The Field Generals is an organization founded by and composed of NFL African American quarterbacks who are dedicated to teaching and preserving the history of the African American quarterback. Harris, along with fellow members Doug Williams, Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham and Briscoe will discuss race relations in both collegiate and professional football at the College Football Hall of Fame on Feb. 22.

It’s been a long journey for the once tall, lanky kid from Monroe, Louisiana. Harris’ resume is impressive, but he couldn’t have become what he is today without some direction. That guidance started with Coach Robinson and it still lingers today.

“Eddie Robinson is perhaps the greatest person that I’ve ever been around,” said Harris. “He is a tremendous influence in terms of how he prepared all of us, for not only football, but for life. I think he went out of his way to prepare me to be an NFL quarterback when there was none. He’s been a tremendous influence on my life.”