Carroll Wayne Harris (May 4, 1938 – June 4, 2015) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a

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, p ...

for the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL) from 1961 through 1972. His son, Wayne Harris, Jr., coaches football and also played for the Stampeders of the CFL.

High school and college

Harris was a high school all-American for the El Dorado, Arkansas High School Wildcats and played collegiately for

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

Razorbacks from 1957 to 1960. In 1960, he was selected as the outstanding player in the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

and played in the

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...

and the

All-American Bowl The All-American Bowl was an annual postseason college football bowl game played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama from 1977 to 1990. The game was known as the Hall of Fame Classic from 1977 to 1985. In 1986, the National Football Foundatio ...

. He was nicknamed "Thumper".

CFL

Harris was drafted by the

Boston Patriots Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...

of the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

, but opted to play in

for 12 years, all with the

. He won the Outstanding Lineman Award a record 4 times. He was named all-Western Conference 11 times and all-Canadian 9 times, appearing in 3

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

finals: the 56th Grey Cup of 1968, the 58th Grey Cup of 1970, and the

59th Grey Cup The 59th Grey Cup was played on November 28, 1971, before 34,404 fans at Vancouver's Empire Stadium. The Calgary Stampeders defeated the Toronto Argonauts on a slick, rain-covered field, 14–11. Box Score First Quarter Calgary - TD - Herm Ha ...

of 1971, the latter being the only victory, when he was named Most Outstanding Player in the game. His jersey #55 was

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

by the Stampeders in 1973.

Awards & Legacy

Harris has been inducted into the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about t ...

, the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

(2004), the

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

Sports Hall of Fame, Arkansas' all-century team for the 20th century, and the

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Sports Hall of Fame. In November 2006, Harris was voted 9th among the CFL's Top 50 players of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network

The Sports Network The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language sports specialty channel established by the Labatt Brewing Company in 1984 as part of the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels. Since 2001, it has been majority-owned by comm ...

/TSN, no linebacker being ahead of him. In 2012 in honour of the

100th Grey Cup The 100th Grey Cup was a Canadian football game between the East Division champion Toronto Argonauts and the West Division champion Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League to decide the Grey Cup champions of the 2012 season. The ga ...

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...

used his image on a series of commemorative postage stamps. The image was also used on presentation posters and other materials to promote the Grey Cup game and other celebrations associated with the centennial.

Later life and death

Wayne worked for CanTex drilling as vice president and general manager of operation and served on the CAODC. He died June 4, 2015, at the age of 77.Calgary Stampeder great Wayne ‘Thumper’ Harris dies at 77
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Videos

Canadian Football Hall of Fame member

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Wayne 1938 births 2015 deaths Arkansas Razorbacks football players American players of Canadian football Calgary Stampeders players Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Canadian football linebackers College Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Hampton, Arkansas Players of American football from Arkansas

High school and college

CFL

Awards & Legacy

Later life and death

Further reading

Videos

References