Once a gifted athlete, he was willing to just walk away
Jan. 22—From his dominating days on local AAU basketball courts (according to a teammate, opposing guards could not dribble past half-court without Harms stealing the ball) to his three-sport accolades at Pullman High School to his full-ride football scholarship at Eastern Washington University, Ryan Harms' athletic abilities could hardly be questioned.
A point guard in basketball with a 35-inch high school vertical jump (37 inches on his "dunk days" according to the teammate), Harms played three years for the PHS varsity, going 45-6 in his final two seasons and helping lead the Greyhounds to a 25-1 record as a senior. The team's only loss that season to NBA-bound Luke Ridnour and Blaine High in the state title game.
On the high school football field, Harms played for PHS as a freshman and then again as a senior, thinking at the time that "this might be the last chance I can do this." It wasn't.
Harms, playing slot receiver, cornerback and sometimes quarterback for the Greyhounds, was an all-state selection and earned a scholarship offer to play at EWU.
After two seasons at EWU in which he played sparsely and "chafed" at the regimented life of a college athlete, Harms said he walked into his coach's office, quit the team and asked that his scholarship be taken away.
Harms had graduated third in his class at Pullman High and was an academic all-American in each of his semesters at EWU, yet, as a requirement of his scholarship, he was expected to attend hours of eating, training and study sessions he felt were impinging on his ability to mature.
"I was not some person who was sheltered or afraid of being on my own," he said. "I was eagerly attempting to assert myself as a young man and only felt constrained."
Harms left EWU after his sophomore year and earned a degree in English and creative writing from Western Washington University two years later. He called the experience, and the new opportunity at Western a "godsend."
"I learned from that decision ... about what my relationship would always be with money," Harms said. "I would never let the pursuit of it compromise my peace of mind."
Harms had just one regret from his playing days, though he stopped short of calling it a regret. After high school, he had the EWU opportunity on the table but also an invitation to play junior college basketball at Yakima Valley Community College.
"I was good at football, but I loved basketball," he said. "In retrospect, I should have passed on the scholarship and played basketball."
