BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY James Andrew Harrison, Jr. born May 4, 1978 is an American football linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League. He played college football for Kent State University, and was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2002. A five-time Pro Bowl selection, Harrison has earned two Super Bowl rings with the Steelers in Super Bowl XL and Super Bow
Early years
Born in Akron, Ohio, Harrison was the youngest of 14 children to James Sr. (a chemical truck driver) and Mildred. He played little league baseball in Scranton, PA for Sloan little league's Green Team. He was selected to the All-Star team in 1991. He grew up in Akron, and his favorite NFL team was the Cleveland Browns, who played only 40 miles from his house. His mother did not want him to play at first. It took both Harrison and his best friend from childhood, David Walker, to convince her. When he started to play, he excelled at both linebacker and running back. He attended two high schools his freshman year, Archbishop Hoban High School then Coventry High School. He was one of the first African-Americans to play football at Coventry, and he graduated in 1998.His high school football ability was great, but his lack of maturity at times was a struggle. Harrison did not pay attention to his grades or college entrance tests, and by his senior year he had become disruptive to his football team. Early in his senior year, Coventry staff had to suspend him for two games for challenging an assistant coach to a fight. After he returned from his suspension, in his next game, he began the game by carrying 3 times for nearly 100 yards and 2 touchdowns. After his second TD, he ran down the opposing team's sideline, and was ejected and later suspended for one game for making obscene gestures to the fans. Harrison was in court soon thereafter, after he shot a BB gun in the school locker room towards a defensive coach. He pled guilty to a minor charge and was able to return to school to finish his senior year. Due to his off-the-field issues, powerhouse football programs like Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Nebraska lost interest in him.
College career
Harrison attended Kent State University, and played for the Kent State Golden Flashes football team. He became a starter in his junior season and led the team in total tackles with 106, 13 of them for a loss. He also had an interception and three fumble recoveries. In 2001, he recorded 98 total tackles and led the team with 15 sacks.
Professional career
Pittsburgh Steelers
2002-2003
Harrison went undrafted in the 2002 NFL Draft, fearing he was too short (six feet) to play linebacker, and too light (240 pounds) to play on the defensive line. A few teams did send him training camp invites. The Steelers signed Harrison as an undrafted rookie in 2002, making him the first Kent State alumnus to play at linebacker for the team since Hall of Famer Jack Lambert.
Harrison spent two years on and off the practice squad for the Steelers, being released three times, and also was briefly on the active roster towards the end of the 2002 season, playing only special teams. Teammate and fellow linebacker, James Farrior, later told NFL Network that Harrison was so green early on in his career that he would simply “give up” on plays on which he was struggling and even would ask the coaches not to play him when he was struggling. Farrior said, "He was a knucklehead that didn't know the plays. We'd be in practice, in training camp, and he might not know what he was doing so he'd just stop and throw his hands up and tell (the coaches) to get him out of there. We thought the guy was crazy."
Harrison wore number 93 during this period before adopting his current number 92, which at the time was worn by fellow linebacker and Pro Bowler Jason Gildon.
2004
He was signed by Baltimore in late 2003, then sent to the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe, but eventually was cut by the Ravens. After being cut for a fourth time, Harrison considered not playing anymore. Shortly thereafter, he was signed a fourth time by the Steelers during training camp in 2004 after Clark Haggans sustained an injury in an offseason weightlifting accident. Showing much improvement, Harrison made the final roster and remained with the Steelers through the 2012 season. Harrison later told the Beaver County Times that if not for Haggans's injury, he planned to retire from football at age 26 to focus on becoming a veterinarian, something that Harrison still plans on doing after his football career ends. Harrison also considered following in his father's footsteps to become a truck driver, and to this day does have a commercial driver's license.
Throughout the 2004 season Harrison mostly played on special teams and at linebacker with occasional reps at defensive end. His first career start came against his hometown Cleveland Browns in Cleveland on November 14 after teammate Joey Porter and Browns running back William Green were ejected for fighting during the pregame warm-ups. Harrison had a good game statistically in the Steelers' 24–10 victory against their hated rival.
Harrison scored his first career touchdown on a fumble recovery in the final week of the season against the Buffalo Bills.
Dog Incident
Personal
As well as being nicknamed "Silverback", Harrison's teammates also call him Deebo, after the character from the Friday movies.
He has two children, James Harrison III, born in 2007, and Henry, born in 2009.
Harrison elected not to visit the White House with the rest of the team after the Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII. Skipping the visit gained some media attention, as Harrison said that Barack Obama (who supported the Steelers in the game and considers his second favorite NFL team after his hometown team, Chicago Bears)would have invited the Arizona Cardinals had they won: "This is how I feel — if you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the Super Bowl. As far as I'm concerned, he [Obama] would've invited Arizona if they had won." Harrison also skipped the team's visit after winning Super Bowl XL when George W. Bush was president.
Arrest
Harrison was arrested in March 2008 and was charged with simple assault and criminal mischief stemming from a domestic altercation with his girlfriend, Beth Tibbott. On April 3, 2008, the district attorney dropped all charges because Harrison had completed anger management counseling and psychological counseling.
The arrest gained some controversy after the team released wide receiver Cedrick Wilson in a similar, but unrelated, incident around the same time but did not release Harrison. The Steelers even issued a press release shortly after they released Wilson stating that Harrison's incident and Wilson's incident were examined "on a case-by-case basis" and Wilson's incident determined that his warranted release while Harrison had "taken responsibility for his actions." Steelers owner Dan Rooney, a lifelong devout Catholic, added that the incident was concerning their son's baptism, that Harrison's girlfriend reportedly did not want their son baptized, and that Harrison promptly called the Rooney family about the incident. Nonetheless, there were still accusations of a double standard because of the timing of both Harrison's and Wilson's incidents. The NFL, which had been cracking down on off-the-field conduct, took no action in either incident.
Dog Incident
On May 23, 2009, Harrison's child sustained an injury to his thigh when the family's pit bull became agitated and bit him. The boy's mother, Beth Tibbott, who had let the dog out of his cage, was also bitten when she tried to intervene. The dog also bit the player's massage therapist, who needed three stitches. Mr. Harrison's agent, William Parise, said the boy's injuries were “serious but certainly not life-threatening.” Three days later, the child was released from the hospital.[ The pit bull was scheduled to be euthanized but through the team, Harrison was able to place the dog in a temporary home that specializes in training aggressive dogs to be gentle.
Men's Journal Article
On July 13, 2011, a controversial magazine article titled "James Harrison: Confessions of an NFL Hitman" was published by Paul Solotaroff in Men's Journal. In this article Harrison was asked multiple questions about who he is and why he plays the game of football the way he does. The controversy comes into play when James Harrison begins talking about the NFL commissionerRoger Goodell. Harrison called Goodell a "crook and a puppet", and then proceeded to say that "I hate him and will never respect him.” Harrison also made comments towards his quarterback,Ben Roethlisberger, and other players in the National Football League such as Brian Cushing. Harrison released an apology for his statements on July 14, 2011.] Harrison apologized for his gay slur that was aimed towards Goodell and stated that his comments about his teammates were lost in context.[
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