Homer Harris, 1916-2007: Garfield star was gridiron pioneer

Ten years before Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color line, Homer Harris was a racial trailblazer with less fanfare -- the first black player to captain a Big Ten college football team.

Harris died March 17 at his Queen Anne home of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 91.

A hugely talented all-city end for Garfield High School, he became a three-year starter and letterman for Iowa, captaining a 1-7 team in 1937 while playing alongside future Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick. Harris was named most valuable player for the 3-4 Hawkeyes the year before.

Harris, according to an Iowa alumni Web site, also has been described as the first black player to captain a major college football team, a claim that can't be verified.

The Seattle native wound up halfway across the country to play football because his hometown university, Washington, didn't recruit or welcome any black players in the post-Depression years. Harris was steered to Iowa by his Garfield football coach, Leon Brigham, who played for the Hawkeyes and helped facilitate a scholarship offer.

Once the Huskies realized they had missed a great one they integrated their program almost overnight, making running back Charley Russell, one of Harris' Garfield teammates, their first black player.

Harris captained the 1933 Garfield football team and was a two-time all-conference selection, leading the Bulldogs to 6-0 records and city championships as a junior and senior.

He played in the first Turkey Day game, a longstanding Seattle tradition on Thanksgiving that lasted five decades until the onset of state football playoffs. In the inaugural game in 1933, he threw two touchdown passes in a 19-7 victory over Lincoln, settling the city title in a doubleheader at Husky Stadium.

"It was a rarity for me to be in the backfield because I always lined up at end," Harris told the P-I in 2000.

Garfield's four-man backfield that day was a certifiable all-star cast. Harris lined up next to Sammy Bruce, who played at North Carolina A&T and was killed on a bombing mission during World War II; Jeff Heath, who spent 14 seasons as a major league baseball player, most of them as an outfielder for the Cleveland Indians; and Russell, the UW football pioneer.

After Iowa, Harris was faced with more discriminatory obstacles involving his athletic pursuits. He wanted to play pro football but those teams weren't receptive to blacks. Instead, he followed his mother's advice and entered medical school at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., and completed his residency at the University of Illinois Medical School.

At every opportunity, the late Royal Brougham, Post-Intelligencer sports editor and columnist, held up Harris' athletic and academic accomplishments and wrote what a great role model he had become for Seattle's inner-city youth.

"I really respected him and enjoyed being around him," said Roman Miller, a friend and former Seattle University athletic administrator. "He was always serious about his grades and being successful. He always used to tell me that boxer Joe Louis, the 'Brown Bomber,' should have got some degrees."

Harris became a Seattle dermatologist with great endurance. He worked until 2000 before closing his downtown practice.

Five years ago, he was voted into Iowa's sports hall of fame and returned to the Iowa City campus for the first time since graduating to attend the induction ceremonies.

Two years ago, he was saluted with a permanent Seattle landmark. Homer Harris Park was opened at 24th Avenue East and East Howell Street, funded by a $1.3 million gift provided by an anonymous admirer.

Harris' wife of 56 years, Dorothy, died in 2005 and Russell, his Garfield teammate and regular companion, died last year. Harris is survived by a daughter and a grandson. At his request, no funeral will be held.