Edward Charles Harmon (born December 16, 1946 in

North Tonawanda, New York North Tonawanda is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 31,568 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is named after Tonawanda Creek, its south b ...

) 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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

for the American Football League's Cincinnati Bengals. He played college football at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

Early years

Harmon was born in North Tonawanda, a suburb of Buffalo, in

Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all sources agree WNY i ...

. There he attended Bishop Gibbons High School. He moved on to play for the

, where he was a backup fullback behind

Wayne Patrick Wayne Allen Patrick (September 1, 1946 – March 23, 2010) was a professional American football running back for five seasons for the Buffalo Bills in both the American Football League and the National Football League. He was born in Gainesville, ...

. After being deemed "too valuable" to be a second stringer, he was moved to

as a junior, making a name for himself as a hard hitter with great intensity. In 1966, he set a single-game school record with 16 tackles while playing against the University of Tulsa. He was inducted into the

Athletics Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Harmon was selected by the

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 ...

in the third round (71st overall) of the

1968 NFL Draft The 1968 National Football League draft was part of the common draft, in the second year in which the NFL and AFL held a joint draft of college players. It took place at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City on January 30–31, 1968. The Mi ...

, because they were impressed that his athleticism allowed him to play

at a bigger size than most players could in that era. The Cowboys were deep at

and he couldn't make the team, so he spent his rookie season on the

taxi squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

. In

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, he was tried at

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

and offensive tackle, before being released on September 9. Instead of joining the

again, he decided to sign with a different team.

Cincinnati Bengals

, he 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 ...

with the Cincinnati Bengals. He played in 11 contests and was voted the player of the game against the New York Jets. He was waived injured on August 25,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

Personal life

Harmon played

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

References

External links

Gibbons' Harmon almost a Bill now a Bengal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harmon, Ed 1946 births Living people Players of American football from Buffalo, New York American football linebackers Louisville Cardinals football players Dallas Cowboys players Cincinnati Bengals players American Football League players