Major Harris is used to setting records.
As one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever don the gold and blue, he led the Mountaineer football team to a perfect season and was a Heisman Trophy finalist.
On Friday, Oct. 22, the former Mountaineer quarterback and College Hall of Famer will once again take the lead as parade marshal for the 2010 Homecoming Parade. He joins hundreds of alumni, students and other participants at this annual event that kicks off Homecoming festivities on High Street in downtown Morgantown.
Harris will also be honored during halftime of Saturday’s (Oct. 23) WVU–Syracuse game, which kicks off at noon at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Harris was the first quarterback in NCAA history to rush for 2,000 yards and pass for 5,000 yards during his three-year Mountaineer career. In 1988, he led West Virginia to an 11-0 regular season record and a meeting against No. 1-ranked Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl national championship game.
“We are excited that our own college football great will be serving as our 2010 parade marshal,” said Stephen L. Douglas, president and CEO of the WVU Alumni Association. “Major Harris has had significant influence on how college football is played today and we are thrilled that he will be celebrating his alma mater’s homecoming with us.”
After struggling through the early part of his redshirt freshman season, the elusive signal caller had a breakout game against East Carolina in 1987 and never looked back. He produced 1,200 yards passing and 615 rushing yards in helping WVU to a John Hancock Sun Bowl berth against Thurman Thomas-led Oklahoma State.
The following season, he was nearly perfect in directing West Virginia to the school’s first-ever undefeated, untied regular season and a matchup against No. 1-ranked Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship.
In getting the Mountaineers there, Harris baffled opponents all season with his daring, unpredictable, wide-open style. That was never more evident than in West Virginia’s 51-30 dismantling of long-time nemesis Penn State. Harris outgained the entire Penn State team, 301-292, and produced the school’s most exciting run ever in the first quarter of that game.
As the play clock wound down, Harris forgot the play he had called in the huddle. As soon as the ball was snapped, the entire West Virginia team went in one direction and Harris went the other.
He faked out the entire Penn State team leaving no less than seven tacklers grabbing air on the way to the most gorgeous touchdown run in school history—a mere 26-yards forever embedded in the memories of West Virginia football fans.
As a junior, Harris was equally spectacular despite not having as strong a supporting cast. He passed for 2,058 yards and rushed for 936 yards to finish third in the 1989 Heisman Trophy balloting. He earned first team Kodak All-America honors and was a second team AP and Football News All-American. In 1988-89, Harris was voted ECAC player of the year.
He established a WVU record with 7,334 total yards and became one of just two quarterbacks in Division I history to pass for more than 5,000 yards and rush for more than 2,000 yards. His 2,161 rushing yards rank eighth on the school all-time rushing list.
After the completion of his junior year, Harris left school early and was drafted in the 12th round by the Los Angeles Raiders, though he would never play a down in the NFL.
Instead Harris played one season in the Canadian Football League with the British Columbia Lions before spending parts of the next five years in the Arena Football League.
In 1995, Harris returned to WVU to complete his degree in physical education. In 2010, he was inducted into the College Football Home of Fame and is a member of the WVU Sports Hall of Fame (1999). He and his wife reside in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pa.
For more information, please contact the WVU Alumni Association at 304-293-4731 or visit http://alumni.wvu.edu.
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CONTACT: Tara Curtis, WVU Alumni Association,
(304) 293-0972, tecurtis@mail.wvu.edu
Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.