Major inauguration of Harris Street in July
The Old Historic Hill District in the City of Pittsburgh honors one of its beloved sons, Major Harris, by renaming a street after the All-American, hosting the dedication ceremony at the corner of Elmore Street and Bently Drive on Friday, July 15 at 3:00 p.m.
Harris won the Pittsburgh High School Football Player of the Year award, presented by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, after his junior and senior seasons at Brashear High School. He became a town legend, throwing a 79-yard touchdown pass to beat Indiana High School on the last play of the game, and the same year it was noted that Pitt’s head coach, Foge Fazie, told Harris he would be the next Dan Marino. However, coaching teams across the country viewed the quarterback as a defensive back, including newly hired Pitt head coach Mike Gottfried. Thus, Harris chose to be the signal caller for Don Nehlen and the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Once nicknamed “The Brashear Bullet” by legendary West Virginia play caller Jack Fleming, led WVU to its first-ever undefeated season in 1988 as a sophomore and won Player of the League year in the ECAC and finished fifth in the Heisman after 1,915 passing yards and 14 touchdowns, as he rushed for 610 yards and 6 touchdowns, totaling 2,348 yards 20 touchdowns for an average of 8.4 yards per touch.
November 6, 2021; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Former West Virginia Mountaineers player Major Harris waves to the crowd during a ceremony to retire his No. 9 after the first quarter against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Mountaineer Field in Puskar Stadium, Milan .
Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
Harris upped his numbers as a junior, throwing for 2,058 yards and 17 touchdowns and rushing for 936 yards and six touchdowns. He was again named ECAC Player of the Year and finished third in the Heisman voting.
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Harris left after his junior year for the NFL and did so as one of only two quarterbacks in NCAA Division I history to pass for over 5,000 yards and rush for over 2,000. and left as the program leader in total yards with 7,334 – a record that stood until quarterback Geno Smith broke him as a junior in 2011. Smith currently holds the record with 12,004 total yards.
Harris had his number nine retired at WVU last season.
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