Harmon Leon Wages (born May 18, 1946) is an American former college and professional football player who was 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 ...

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 five seasons during the 1960s and 1970s. He played college football for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, and thereafter, he played professionally for the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL.

Early years

Wages was born in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

in 1946. He attended Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville,databaseFootball.com, Players
Harmon Wages
. Retrieved October 4, 2010. where he was a standout quarterback for the Lee Generals high school football team. Top 100 Athletes of the Century: Harmon Wages
" ''The Florida Times-Union'' (November 28, 2000). Retrieved October 3, 2010. In two years as the Generals' starting quarterback, Wages led his team to 8–2 and 7–3 records. After rushing for nearly 900 yards as a senior, he was named to the all-city and all-state teams.

College career

Wages accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a

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 ...

for coach

Ray Graves Samuel Ray Graves (December 31, 1918 – April 10, 2015) was an American college and professional football player and college football coach. He was a native of Tennessee and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he was the starting ...

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division o ...

team from 1965 to

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 150, 164, 186 (2011). Retrieved August 31, 2011. He was a backup behind Steve Spurrier in 1965 and 1966, and was the periodic starter as a senior in 1967. Wages graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1969.

Professional career

Wages was an

undrafted 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 ...

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 ...

in 1968 when the Atlanta Falcons signed him, and he played for the Falcons from to and again in .National Football League, Historical Players
Harmon Wages
Retrieved October 3, 2010. He was the Falcons' second-string halfback and third-string quarterback. With an injury to the Falcons' starting halfback, Wages began to see playing time. In a single game against the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

played on December 7, 1969, he ran for a 66-yard touchdown, caught an 88-yard reception for a second touchdown, and threw a 16-yard pass for a third touchdown, and the Falcons defeated the Saints 45–17. The three-touchdown day by a single player—one rushing, one receiving and one passing—is one of only seven such " hat trick" performances in the history of the NFL. Wages finished his five-year NFL career with 332 carries for 1,321 yards and five

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, eighty-five

reception Reception is a noun form of ''receiving'', or ''to receive'' something, such as art, experience, information, people, products, or vehicles. It may refer to: Astrology * Reception (astrology), when a planet is located in a sign ruled by another ...

s for 765 yards and five touchdowns, and three pass completions in four attempts for fifty yards and a single touchdown.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Harmon Wages
Retrieved October 3, 2010.

Life after football

Wages became a sportscaster for

WAGA-TV WAGA-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter faci ...

, then a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

affiliate (now a

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

-owned station) in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, and then

WXIA-TV WXIA-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL (channel 36). Both stations share studios at One Monroe Place on the north ...

, Atlanta's

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

affiliate. From an early age, he developed a reputation for, and earned the nickname of "Charmin' Harmon" from high school onward for having the intuitive ability to engage everyone from teammates on the field, to parents of friends, to coaches, to fans, to writers, to newspersons and professors. Wages was convicted in Federal court in Atlanta for misdemeanor possession of cocaine in 1985, and spent three months in prison. He returned to sports broadcasting at

WTLV WTLV (channel 12) is a television station in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Orange Park–licensed ABC affiliate WJXX (channel 25). Both stations share studios on East Adams Stre ...

-TV, the NBC affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida, and current CBS affiliate WGNX-TV (now

WANF WANF (channel 46) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship property of locally based Gray Television and is co-owned with independent station WPCH-TV (channel 17) and low-power, Clas ...

) in Atlanta. Wages currently serves as an advisory member of the board of directors of the

Police Athletic League The Police Athletic League (PAL; Police Activities League) is an organization in many American police departments in which members of the police force coach young people, both boys and girls, in sports, and help with homework and other school-rel ...

of Jacksonville.Police Athletic League of Jacksonville
PAL Staff and Board of Directors
. Retrieved June 27, 2011.

References

Bibliography

* Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). . * Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). . * Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). . * McCarthy, Kevin M.,
Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football
', Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). . * McEwen, Tom, ''The Gators: A Story of Florida Football'', The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama (1974). . * Nash, Noel, ed., ''The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football'', Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). . {{DEFAULTSORT:Wages, Harmon 1946 births Living people American football running backs Atlanta Falcons announcers Atlanta Falcons players Florida Gators football players National Football League announcers Robert E. Lee High School (Jacksonville) alumni Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida