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He doesn’t hold the distinction of the first black quarterback. He doesn’t even hold the distinction of the first black modern day successful quarterback. What he did was this………..he was the first black player to start at the quarterback position for a season, and the second black player in modern history to start at the position.

He was drafted in 69 (Grambling College) by the Bills and was to join OJ in the backfield but ended up playing qb. He was traded to the Rams in 72. He was to be a HADL understudy, but when Hadl was traded to the Packers, Harris became the starter.

He led the team to their second straight NFC Western Division title, and their first playoff victory (19-10 over the Ratz ) since 1951. Harris then became the first African-American QB to start a Conference Championship Game. The Rams lost the NFC Championship Game to the Minnesota Vikings 14-10 as the Vikings were aided by some controversial officiating. Harris was named to the NFC Pro Bowl team in 1974 and was awarded MVP of that game.

Knox believed in more of a running attack and despite that Harris led them to another championship in 75. He was up and down in 76 and lost the job a few times to Pat Haden, and eventually would be traded to the Chargers and the Rams aquired an old Namath for four games.

When he left the Rams he had the highest career completion average of any quarterback in team history (55.4%) and had been an integral part of four straight NFC West Champions.

Thorough it all, Harris maintained a quiet dignity. When some reporters suggested race played a factor in his demotion by the Rams, Harris refused to get involved in that type of exchange and maintained that the Rams’ decisions -even the ones he disagreed with – were made based on football only. Maybe Reg or a few others would remember that period in time and lend some light on the subject.

With the Chargers, jolted by the trade, SD eventually built the team around Dan Fouts. He really had nowhere to go with the Chargers.

Mr. Harris is still active with the NFL today, he is Detroit Lions Senior Personnel Executive.

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