Duriel LaDon Harris, Jr. (born November 27, 1954) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

wide receiver in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

, and

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

. He played college football at

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's ...

Early years

Harris attended Stephen F. Austin High School, where he played as a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

. He accepted a football scholarship from

. As a sophomore, he posted 36 carries for 250 yards at

. As a junior, he was moved to the "lonesome end" position in the team's

wishbone offense The wishbone formation, also known simply as the bone, is an offensive formation in American football. The style of attack to which it gives rise is known as the wishbone offense. Like the spread offense in the 2000s to the present, the wishbone ...

, tallying 29 receptions for 701 yards and 7

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

s. As a senior, he registered 34 receptions for 607 yards and 5

s, ranking fifth in the nation in kickoff returns, including a 104-yard

return against the University of Tulsa. Even though he had few opportunities to prove his true worth in the Aggies run-oriented offense, he finished his college career with 89 receptions for 1,562 yards (17.5-yard average) and 13

Professional career

Miami Dolphins (first stint)

Harris was selected by the

in the third round (80th overall) of the 1976 NFL Draft. He wore number 26 during his rookie season, starting two games at wide receiver out of 12 contests. He finished with 372 yards (third on the team) on 22 receptions and one touchdown. He also stood out as a

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

, posting 559 yards on 17 kickoffs and a 32.9 yards per return (led the NFL). In

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

, he switched his jersey number to 82. He appeared in 14 games (4 starts), finishing second on the team in with 34 receptions for 601 yards, 5 touchdowns and a 17.7 yards average per catch (led the team). Throughout his first years, the Dolphins were a run-oriented team and his role in the passing offense was limited to being the team's deep threat, generally averaging over 17 yards per catch. In

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

, Harris and

Nat Moore Nat or NAT may refer to: Computing * Network address translation (NAT), in computer networking Organizations * National Actors Theatre, New York City, U.S. * National AIDS trust, a British charity * National Archives of Thailand * National A ...

set a franchise wide receiver tandem with a combined 90 receptions for 1,638 yards. The next year

Bruce Hardy Bruce Alan Hardy (born June 1, 1956 in Murray, Utah), is a former professional American football player who was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the 9th round of the 1978 NFL Draft. A 6'5", 232 lbs. tight end from Arizona State University ...

passed him on the depth chart at receiver. In

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, he regained his starting role, posting 911 yards (led the team) on 53 receptions (led the team) for the second-best total in franchise history, while playing with 2 different starting

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

s. Harris was involved in the

hook and lateral The hook and lateral is a trick play in American, Canadian football and indoor American football, often colloquially called the hook and ladder play. Although the latter term is often used generically, a “hook and ladder” route specifical ...

play at the end of the first half of the 1981 AFC Division Playoff game versus the San Diego Chargers, that became known as

The Epic in Miami The Epic in Miami was the National Football League AFC divisional playoff game between the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins that took place on January 2, 1982 in the Miami Orange Bowl. The game, won by the Chargers in overtime, 41–38, is ...

. Harris received a 40-yard pass from

Don Strock Donald Joseph Strock (born November 27, 1950) is a former American football player and coach. He played professionally as a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) with the Miami Dolphins (1973–1987), Cleveland Browns (1988), and Ind ...

and then lateralled the ball to

Tony Nathan Tony Curtis Nathan (born December 14, 1956) is a former American football running back. Nathan played college football at the University of Alabama and was selected in the third round (61st overall) of the 1979 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins, ...

, who ran the ball 25 yards for a

. The Chargers eventually won the game in overtime. In 1982, he established a franchise record with a 25.3-yard return average on 56 kickoffs. As a receiver he was second on the team with 22 receptions for 331 yards and one touchdown. The next year, he was passed over on the depth chart by

Mark Duper Mark "Super" Duper (born January 25, 1959) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1982 to 1992. He played collegiately at Northwestern State ...

and suffered his worst performance up to that point in his career. During his time with the Dolphins, Harris had frequent disagreements with Don Shula and their many meetings prompted his teammates to name one of the chairs in the head coach's office "Duriel's Chair". On March 27,

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, he was traded to the

in exchange for a fourth round draft choice (#91-Mike Smith). He left as the second-ranked receiver in Dolphins history with 266 receptions for 4,510 yards. He also took great care of the football, having only 2 fumbles in 8 years.

Cleveland Browns

, despite being the second leading receiver for the

(32 catches for 512 yards), Harris was waived when

Marty Schottenheimer Martin Edward Schottenheimer (; September 23, 1943 – February 8, 2021) was an American football linebacker and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1984 to 2006. He was the head coach of the Kansas City ...

replaced

Sam Rutigliano Sam William Rutigliano (born July 1, 1931) is a former American football coach and current television football analyst for WEWS, the ABC affiliate in Cleveland. He served as the head coach for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football Leag ...

as the team's head coach after 11 games, because Schottenheimer considered that he dropped too many passes. His best game came against the New England Patriots, when he had 8 receptions for 136 yards.

Dallas Cowboys

On November 13,

, he was claimed off waivers by the

, who were thin at wide receiver after losing Drew Pearson and

Butch Johnson Richard Andrew "Butch" Johnson (born August 30, 1955 in Worcester, Massachusetts) is an archer from Woodstock, Connecticut in the United States. He has competed in the Summer Olympics five times, and was a part of the gold medal U.S. team at th ...

, while both Tony Hill and

Doug Donley Douglas Max Donley (born February 6, 1959) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears. He was selected in the second round of the 1981 NFL Draft. He played college ...

suffered injuries. He only had one receptions for 9 yards during the season. He was cut on September 2,

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Miami Dolphins (second stint)

On September 24,

, he was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the

, to provide depth after wide receivers

and Tommy Vigorito suffered injuries. On November 9, he was released after tallying 3 receptions for 24 yards, to make room for Duper to come off the

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

Personal life

After football, Harris worked in radio and television broadcasting. He was an actor in television, films, and theater.

References

External links

Museum of the Gulf Coast bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Duriel 1954 births Living people Sportspeople from Port Arthur, Texas Players of American football from Texas American football wide receivers American football return specialists New Mexico State Aggies football players Miami Dolphins players Cleveland Browns players Dallas Cowboys players