BO HARRIS SPORTS LEGEND
Before He Was Bayou Bengal Bo, He Was Gator Bo
Bo Harris is another in a long line of professional athletes from Shreveport-Bossier, including Terry Bradshaw, Joe Ferguson, Todd Walker, Wendell Davis, Robert Parish, Stromile Swift, Alana Beard, Pat Tilley, Jacob Hester, David Toms, David Lee, Stan Humphries and … the list goes on and on and on …
Before Bo Harris was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the third round of the 1975 NFL Draft, he was an LSU Bayou Bengal.
And before that, he was a Captain Shreve High School Gator and teammate of Denny Duron, whose Evangel Christian Academy football program is part of this month’s SB cover story.
“If I ever go to jail in Mexico, I’m calling Denny to get me out,” Harris said. “I know he’ll show up.”
Harris was born in Leesville and moved to Shreveport the summer before his sophomore year of high school. “All of junior high, I played football,” he said. My freshman year at Leesville High School I played baseball before my dad got transferred.
Choosing which Shreveport high school he wanted to play football for was pretty easy for Harris. “I specifically chose Captain Shreve because of Lee Hedges,” Harris said of the late beloved coach who, in 18 seasons at Shreve, won a state football championship and eight district titles.
Harris played tight end and defensive end for Hedges and the Gators before going to Baton Rouge, where he played outside linebacker for the Tigers. Harris joined another LSU standout, safety Tommy Casanova, on the Bengals when they scooped him up 75th overall in the ’75 NFL Draft.
Harris played under Paul Brown during his rookie season; the NFL coaching legend left the sidelines and became the team’s general manager after that season. “It was a truly great experience to play in his organization,” Harris said. “He was a great guy.”
Bill “Tiger” Johnson was Harris’ second head coach in Cincy. In his final three seasons as a Bengal, Harris played for head coach Forrest Gregg, an NFL Hall of Fame tackle who was part of Green Bay’s dynasty in the 1960s. Gregg was also head coach in Shreveport for the Pirates in 1994 and 1995 during the CFL’s brief attempt at expansion into the U.S.
Harris grew close to his coach and remained that way; when Gregg passed away in 2019 at age 85 from complications due to Parkinson’s, Harris was a pallbearer.
Harris played nine seasons in the NFL, eight with Cincinnati and his final season with Buffalo, the rookie season for future NFL Hall of Fame defensive lineman Bruce Smith, an Outland Trophy winner at Virginia Tech who played his final college game in Shreveport, a 23-7 loss to Air Force in the 1984 Independence Bowl.
Throughout his career, Harris would come back home to Shreveport for the offseason and continue workouts with Woodlawn legend Joe Ferguson, who played 17 seasons in the NFL, 11 as quarterback in Buffalo, and Fair Park stud Pat Tilley, a Pro Bowl receiver for St. Louis in 1980 and a Louisiana Tech Athletics Hall of Famer.
“In the summers, we would do our track workouts somewhere like Captain Shreve, Byrd, or Fair Park,” Harris said. “We were usually out there by 9 a.m. We would then hit the field by 3 p.m. I picked up enough skills to pass cover just by playing defensive back for Tilley.”
Harris was excited to show off those DB skills in the ’81 AFC Divisional Playoff Game between Bo’s Bengals and Ferguson’s Bills.
Shreve vs. Woodlawn. Strap in! “I had a knack for covering,” Harris says. Props to Pat Tilley.
“We had played them (the Bills) a couple of weeks before, and they had thrown a fourth wide receiver out there, Lou Piccone,” Harris said. “So, I knew they were going to do that. I had the fourth receiver. “We were in a Cover 2. I had a tight end over me. I rode the tight end hard because he could boogie. What I wasn’t prepared for was for their running back, (Roland)
Hooks, to hit that seam.”
Ferguson was looking to hit Hooks down the middle. Joe forgot Bo had a knack for covering. “I had my back turned when I jumped in the air, and I caught the ball,” Bo said. “With one hand.” One of the Captain Shreve star’s seven interceptions in his NFL career. And probably the most memorable.
Another memorable – though not nearly as warm – moment for Bo was when he played in the coldest game in NFL history back in 1982. Harris and the Bengals beat San Diego, 27-7, and won that AFC Championship game in Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium – but at what cost? It was the minus 59 degrees wind chill that made it the NFL’s coldest game ever and earned it the nickname “The Freezer Bowl.” “There wasn’t spandex back then,” Harris said. “We would melt Vaseline, rub that on, then put on pantyhose. “Worked pretty well.”
It got him to Super Bowl XVI. Gregg, Harris and the Bengals lost to San Francisco, 26-21, but the game was played indoors. Thank goodness. Outside Michigan’s Pontiac Silverdome that day was snow and ice that caused traffic delays and other logistical issues. But inside? No Vaseline. No hose. Harris is a lot warmer now, spending his time back home in Northwest Louisiana.
He’s an avid turkey and duck hunter and still likes to follow football on TV. “I’m going to watch Cincinnati every week,” he said. “I really get interested the second half of the season.
“I watched Denny’s (Evangel) playoff game last year on the sidelines. I go to LSU games. I like to watch matchups. I really used to like watching the (New England) Patriots defense and how they made all that work.”
Bo follows LSU baseball, too. He’ll keep up with Duron and the Eagles this fall and the Olympics from Paris this summer. Game recognizes game. And if the Olympics ever start a one-handed interception tournament? Then watch for a former NFL linebacker to come out of retirement. Something tells me Bo’s still got it.
