LIKE IT IS

Putting Harris’ name on trophy perfect fit

FILE — Cliff Harris, left, greets Roger Staubach, center, and Drew Pearson, right, after taking the stage at the Little Rock Touchdown Club in 2013.

It is fitting that the new Cliff Harris Award was named after the Arkansan who put his alma mater on the map.

As a free-agent rookie starting safety for the Dallas Cowboys, Harris’ alma mater was pronounced “Ooohchita,” “Ouchitata” and even “Wichita.”

Ouachita Baptist, one of the nation’s finest private schools, was the only school that offered Harris a chance to play football out of high school, and four years later, even with 17 rounds of the NFL Draft, in a year when Terry Bradshaw of Louisiana Tech was the first player taken, Harris went undrafted.

Given an opportunity to try out for the Cowboys, Harris received solid advice from his college coach, Buddy Bob Benson.

Benson told him to hit anything moving and as hard as he could, help them up and then knock them down again. He also told him to run everywhere he went and if a coach noticed him, say “Sir.”

On that day when heshowed up at Thousand Oaks, Calif., no one could have guessed at the legend that was about to be developed.

Captain Crash was born.

Monday, at the Little Rock Touchdown Club, Harris was the guest speaker but on hand to support his name being on the trophy was Roger Staubach, Gene Stallings, Drew Pearson, Mel Renfro, Charlie Waters, Gil Brandt and Harris’ business partner, Kelcy Warren.

It was an All-Pro dais and all of them will serve on the selection committee for the Cliff Harris Award, which will go to the nation’s outstanding defensive player from NCAA Division II, III or NAIA.

The Cliff Harris Award is another Baz Baby. David Bazzel, former Arkansas Razorbacks football player, radio talk show host, motivational speaker and founder of The Boot, has founded four more awards, and all will bring significant positive exposure to his adopted home state.

One thing became obvious when watching that group of former Cowboys players, coaches and administrators Monday: They would not have missed being there to honor Harris, who was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hallof Fame in 1985 and has rarely missed a banquet since (his son Matt and brother Tommy played for the Razorbacks). Many of them believe Harris belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

It’s not unusual for players from that era to remain close years after retirement, especially the ones who enjoyed great success.

Harris played in five Super Bowls. He and Waters were a feared tandem that opponents hated to face.

Waters, who once put himself back in a game after personally resetting a broken finger, said Monday that he’s had to have rods inserted in his back and he joked that it was from all the hits he took from Harris during games.

“I told him look at my jersey, we are on the same team,” Waters said.

Harris was a hitter, a feared hitter. It was probably Staubach who best described Harris’ style of play, “Cliff became a safety and a linebacker.”

In addition to enough bone-jarring tackles to be named to the Sports Illustrated All-Century team, selected in 1999. Harris had 29 interceptions and 18 fumble recoveries while returning 66 punts and 63 kickoffs.

The Cowboys helmet Harris wore as a player sat at the front table, and it looked like it had been hit by a train after being dropped off the Empire State Building.

A smiling Harris sat behind it, and when a video highlight was shown every time Harris was without his helmet he was smiling.

Cliff Harris hasn’t changed much from the undrafted free agent who appeared in six Pro Bowls in 10 years with the Cowboys. He’s as nice off the field as he was fierce on it, and he’s the perfect model for a trophy recognizing the nation’s best small-college defensive player.

Sports, Pages 17 on 08/27/2013