College Sports Information Directors of America

Pat Harmon has retired as the NFF Historian, Jon F. Hanson, chairman of The National
Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF), announced.

“Pat has dedicated himself to the reporting, researching and publicizing of
sports, in particular football, for more than 70 years,” said Hanson.  “We
have been privileged to have an individual with his depth of knowledge as a
resource for our organization and the entire nation.”

Harmon began his career in 1933 covering events at age 17 for the Freeport
(Ill.) Journal Standard during the Depression era. He would hitchhike to
games, sleep on wrestling mats in gyms of teams he covered, and break into
the food lines of teams. He later found a home in Cincinnati and served as a
sports editor and columnist for the Cincinnati Post for over 34 years,
starting in 1951.  After retiring in 1986, he started his 20-year tenure as
historian of The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.

“The job of [NFF Historian] has been wonderful.  I enjoyed it very much. It’
s the contact with people that I will miss the most,” said Harmon. “Everyday
I think about something that I could be doing. But heck, I am almost ninety
years old. It’s time to retire.”

Born in 1916, Harmon, the father of 11 children, will turn 89 on September
2.  His illustrious career as a sports writer and editor included covering
such greats as Vince Lombardi, Pete Rose, Casey Stengel, Arnold Palmer,
Eddie Robinson, John Wooden, Bear Bryant, Jack Nicklaus, Woody Hayes, Paul
Brown and Joe Louis.  Harmon may be best known for inaugurating the
selection of the Illinois All-State high school football and basketball
teams.

“We will miss Pat. His superb reputation and love of college football has
been a great asset to The National Football Foundation,” said NFF President
Steven J. Hatchell. “His wealth of knowledge has ensured that we recognized
the right people, and we had our facts straight.”

In addition to his stints with Freeport Journal Standard and Cincinnati
Post, Harmon wrote for the Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette in 1934, when he
became a student at the University of Illinois.  There, he married his wife
Anne and built a strong reputation before spending four years at the Cedar
Rapids (Iowa) Gazette from 1947-51.

He served as the president of the Football Writer’s Association of America
(FWAA) in 1984. Recently, the FWAA honored him in 2004 with their Bert
McGrane Award, which they bestow on a member who has performed great service
to the organization and the game of college football.  The NFF also honored
him last year, awarding him its 2004 Outstanding Contribution to Amateur
Football Award.