Hackensack's Billy Harris remembered as one of Bergen County's greatest athletes

Paul Schwartz, NorthJersey.com
·3 min read

It's not often that someone becomes a legend in two places, thousands of miles apart.

Billy Harris was one of those rare people to achieve that.

Harris, who died April 5 at the age of 79 at his home in Marina Del Rey, California after a long illness, first achieved fame in the late 1950s at Hackensack High School.

"He's a legend,'' said Darryl Harris, the former longtime Hackensack basketball coach and Billy's younger brother by eight years. "When I was growing up in Hackensack, whatever I did in football, basketball and baseball, everyone would start out by saying, 'he's Billy Harris's younger brother.' I was proud of that.

"He was not just my brother, he was my good friend and I could always talk to him as a brother and a friend."

Billy Harris scored a then-Bergen County record 27 touchdowns in just nine games for the Comets as a junior in 1958 and set a Bergen County scoring record at the time and a Hackensack school record that stood for 35 years. He was the leading vote-getter on The Record's 1950s All-Decade team and was part of The Record's All-Century team, selected in 1999.

Harris was also selected as an All-Bergen County outfielder on the 1960 baseball team and went on to be voted as the No. 6 athlete in Bergen County history in a compilation done at the end of the 20th Century.

After that, it was on to the University of Colorado, where he starred for three years and gained more than 2,400 yards of total offense, helping the Buffaloes to the 1962 Orange Bowl, where they lost to LSU, 25-7.

Billy Harris illustration by Record staff artist Charlie McGill. 10-28-59. October 28, 1959. "Made it known in the St. Peter's game that he's back intop form." Led Hackensack to the upset of the season." "Time and time again the big fullback hammered his way through the previously unbeaten Petreans, scoring two of the three comet T.D.'s. He passed for the third." "Kinda makes up for the drubbing we took last year."

"We have lost a true Buffalo, easily one of our all-time greats," CU athletic director Rick George said in a statement. "But more than that, Bill was a tremendous person who had such an engaging personality. Simply a friend to everybody."

"Bill just loved the University of Colorado, being a part of it, and what he considered the CU family it represented for him,'' his wife of 54 years, Sue, told the University of Colorado Athletics website. "It gave him such an opportunity for his life...and meant everything to him."

The ties between Harris and both Bergen County and the University of Colorado remained strong throughout his life.

A chance at the pros, then on to real life

Harris was selected in the 14th round of the NFL Draft by the New York Giants and played three seasons in the Canadian Football League with Ottawa and Calgary. But during his two years of military service in Korea following his third year in the CFL, he injured his knee playing in a service league and had to retire from football in 1967.

He married and briefly moved to Los Angeles with Sue but came back to Bergen County to get his bachelor's degree in education and master's degrees in sociology and business from Montclair State before working as a healthcare administrator, first at Morrisiana Hospital in the Bronx and then at Bergen Pines Hospital (later Bergen County Regional Medical Center), where he eventually rose to vice president of operations.

He and Sue lived first in Englewood and then in Ridgewood, where they raised their two children, their daughter Lisa and son Trevor, who was the Ridgewood quarterback in 1990.

Billy Harris then went back to the University of Colorado to work in alumni relations in October, 2000, taking over the directorship of the Alumni C Club in May 2001 and retiring from that position nine years later.

He was active in the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame chapters in both states and received the Bergen County chapters' Distinguished American Award in 2001.

Harris was cremated in a private service last week and in addition to wife, Sue, and brother, Darryl, is survived by his son, Trevor, and grandchildren Max and Lila. He's predeceased by his daughter, Lisa. A memorial service is planned for later in the spring.

Paul Schwartz covers high school track and field for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter and download our app.

Email: schwartzp@northjersey.com

Twitter: @northnjtrack

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Hackensack NJ: Billy Harris remembered as great Bergen County athlete