Robert Harris (basketball)
{{Short description|American football and basketball player and basketball coach (1886–1964)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox college coach
| name = Robert Harris
| image = Robert Harris (basketball).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Harris from The Arbutus, 1909
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1886|12|6}}
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| death_date = July 1964 (aged 77)
| death_place =
| alma_mater =
| player_years1 = 1907–1908
| player_team1 = Chicago
| coach_years1 = 1909
| coach_team1 = Indiana
| overall_record = 5–9
| bowl_record =
| tournament_record =
| championships =
| awards =
| coaching_records =
}}
Robert S. Harris (December 6, 1886 – July 11, 1964) was an American football and basketball player and basketball coach. He played college football and basketball at the University of Chicago. He was the head coach of the 1908–09 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team.
Early years
Harris was born in 1886. He attended Hyde Park High School in Chicago where he played football as a center.{{cite news|title=Eckie Recalls Football Woes of Bob Harris: Pluck Alone Saved Job with Maroons for Army Man|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=March 10, 1918|page=18|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22001717/eckie_recalls_football_woes_of_bob/|via=Newspapers.com}}
He attended the University of Chicago, where he was a member of Amos Alonzo Stagg's football teams that won consecutive Western Conference championships in 1907 and 1908. He also played basketball at Chicago and was a member of the 1906–07 and 1907–08 Chicago Maroons men's basketball teams that compiled a combined 44–4 record and were recognized by the Helms Athletic Foundation as national champion for both years.
Indiana University
Harris was the head coach of the 1908–09 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team. The team compiled a 5–9 record.{{cite web|title=Robert Harris|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|work=SR CBB|accessdate=July 18, 2018|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/coaches/robert-harris-1.html}}
Military service and later years
During World War I, Harris served overseas in the U.S. Army's Rainbow Division under the command of Douglas MacArthur.{{cite news|title=R.S. Harris, 77, Dies; Insurer, Vet, Athlete|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=July 12, 1964|page=104|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22000697/rs_harris_77_dies/|via=Newspapers.com}} He later served during World War II as commander of military training schools at Princeton University, Western Reserve University, University of Virginia, and University of Chicago. He reached the rank of colonel in the Army.{{cite news|title=Death Notice|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=July 13, 1964|page=28|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22000559/col_robert_s_harris_death_notice/|via=Newspapers.com}}
For 50 years, Harris worked as a certified life insurance underwriter for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company in Chicago. He married Sylvia Morrison; they had two daughters, Ruth M. Harris and Roberta Tugenberg. In 1964, Harris died in Chicago at the Veterans Administration Research Hospital at age 77.{{cite news|title=Early Indiana Net Coach Dies|newspaper=The Indianapolis Star|date=July 12, 1964|page=4-2|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22000389/early_indiana_net_coach_dies/|via=Newspapers.com}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/coaches/robert-harris-1.html Robert Harris] at College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
- Indiana University Basketball Encyclopedia, at [https://books.google.com/books?id=PtrhqxYPifMC&q=%22ed+cook%22+indiana+basketball pages 138-139]
{{Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball coach navbox}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Robert}}
Category:American men's basketball players
Category:Basketball coaches from Illinois
Category:Basketball players from Chicago
Category:Chicago Maroons football players