1995 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE | DEL HARRIS
Del Harris, head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, will be inducted into the Milligan College Athletics Hall of Fame on October 28. The hall of fame was established several years ago to honor outstanding athletes, coaches and other significant participants in the athletics program of Milligan College.
Named 1995 Coach of the Year by Sports Illustrated and the NBA, Harris has over 30 years of coaching experience in small college, major college, Europe, the ABA and the NBA. He coached the Houston Rockets to the NBA Championship finals in 1981, making him the winningest coach in Rockets history. He was also named ESPN Coach of the Year in 1981.
Harris earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion from Milligan College in 1959. As a member of the Milligan basketball team, he was named to the All-Conference team, Volunteer State Athletic Conference and Smoky Mountain Athletic Conference three years from 1956-1959. In 1959, his senior year at Milligan, he received an honorable mention with the Associated Press All-American basketball team.
Harris later earned a master's degree from Indiana University. He has had success in the sales field in real estate, oil and gas, and has been the author of three books on basketball coaching theory. He has lectured on sports and motivational topics to hundreds of groups.
In 1981 when the Rockets made championship play, Harris received the Houston Award for Community Service in Houston, Texas. New Mexico made him an honorary governor, and San Antonio, Texas, honored him as an honorary mayor. He is a member of Who's Who in America, Contemporary American Authors, and Who's Who in International Biographies.
"In his first season in L.A.," reported Sports Illustrated, "Harris took a collection of good but not great players and transformed the young Lakers from a 33-win team whose morale was even lower than its winning percentage into a hustling, exciting club."
In 1993, Harris endowed a basketball scholarship at Milligan in honor of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Harris of Plainfield, Indiana. Harris remembers his years at Milligan with fondness. "When I think of Milligan College," he says, "I remember the warmth of friends and faculty." He also remembers with amusement the time he was accidentally locked in the dressing room for the entire second half of a basketball game.
These days Harris makes sure he is out of the dressing room on time, leading his team to victory.