Archie Harris shattered world record in 1941, yet is mostly unknown in MC
by Larry Chowning –
Archie Horgie Harris Jr. was born July 3, 1918 in Urbanna and although little known to most Middlesex County citizens Harris went on to become the first Black to break a world record in the discus at Indiana University in 1941.
David Phillips, a British track and field writer and radio commentator living in France, recently contacted the Southside Sentinel concerning Harris and his Urbanna connection. Phillips shared some of his research for this article.
Harris was a junior at Indiana University when he broke the record at the NCAA championships at Stanford University in California. His throw of 174 feet, 8 3/4 inches broke the record of 174 feet 2 1/2 inches held by Willy Schroder of Germany. His record held for only five months when Italian Adolfo Consolini broke Harris’ record with a 175 foot throw in October 1941. The world record today is held by Jurgen Schult of East Germany with a throw of 243 feet 1/2 inch in 1986.
After Archie was born in Urbanna in 1918, the Harris family moved to Ocean City, N.J., where Archie gained fame as an athlete in football and track. He graduated from Ocean City High School in 1937.
While in high school, he had an unofficial world record throw in the discus at the age of 18 when he threw 175 feet 8 inches at a scholastic meet in Passaic, N.J. The world record throw was not accepted because it was an unsanctioned meet.
As an Indiana University student-athlete, Harris won the 1940 NCAA Track and Field championship in the discus and defended his title in 1941 with his official world record throw. At Indiana, Harris also played football and lettered on the 1938, 39 and 40 teams. He was a second team selection for the 1940 All-Big Ten Conference football team as an end.
World War II interfered with Harris’ olympic bid as he joined the United States Air Force, serving as a bomber pilot in the fighter group known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
After the war, he applied for jobs in the commercial airline field but was turned down due to race. He became one of the first Blacks on the Ocean City Police Department and later became a physical education teacher at the YMCA in Harlem. He died October 1965 at the age of 47.
In 2001, Harris was inducted into the Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame.
Although unrecognized to this point, Harris, if not the greatest, has to be one of the greatest athletes ever to come out of Middlesex County.
If anyone in the county has any other information on Archie Harris’ connections to Middlesex County, please contact the Sentinel as Phillips is gathering information on all track and field world record holders.
