Atlas
05-27-2007, 10:18 PM
Sign this guy.
He knows true test of a man
By Irv Moss
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 05/27/2007 01:52:46 AM MDT
Crush WR Harrell has never let adversity be the victor
Damian Harrell, a master at making positives from negatives, performs on the Arena Football League's small stage as if he were under the brightest
spotlight in Denver. He catches passes that appear beyond his grasp and shakes off big hits much as he's handled life's disappointments.
On his way to a record-setting career with the Colorado Crush, Harrell dodged the hazards of street life during his childhood in Miami but wasn't fast enough to outrun a lightning bolt that took the life of his assistant high school coach. When Harrell got back on his feet, he ignored a high school counselor's skepticism about his chances at succeeding in college, then fought through despair when an older brother was killed in a motorcycle accident.
Harrell minimizes attention for what he has overcome by saying everyone in the Crush locker room has experienced rough times. But not everyone in the Crush locker room has caught a touchdown pass in 78 consecutive games. That's a league record.
"He doesn't care about the records," Crush quarterback John Dutton said. "He just wants to be successful in whatever he does, whether it's being a parent, a husband or a football player. He's going to be in the Hall of Fame, and I'll look back 10 or 15 years from now and be glad that I was part of it."
Good times and bad are part of what has brought Harrell to this point.
"What you do and what you've been through is going to make you a stronger or a weaker person," Harrell said. "At an early age, I said I would take the negatives and make them positives, and that makes me stronger. My past drives me."
A storm brews
Harrell's path to becoming the league's offensive player of the year the past two seasons in a game dominated by offense began on the mean streets of Miami.
"I got into plenty of fights," Harrell said, looking back on his elementary school days. "Just walking to school, you had to worry about fighting this guy or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. At any given time, something bad could happen. It was a rough childhood in many ways, but I'm still breathing."
Tall for his age, Harrell earned respect playing basketball with older kids, helping him sidestep trouble. Harrell also credits the guidance of his mother, Faye McKinney, with helping him through the rough times.
One of those came at the age of 15, when he survived a lightning strike that killed South Miami High School assistant football coach Robert Johnson and landed Harrell in the hospital for two weeks. Harrell went on from South Miami to become a junior college All-American at San Francisco City College before a knee injury at Florida State knocked him off the radar screen of NFL scouts.
"A lot of things happened in his life where he could have just bagged it and went in a different direction," Dutton said. "He kept with it. He's one of the toughest people I've ever been around on or off the field."
Harrell earned a degree in criminal justice at Florida State before seeking justice against Arena Football League defenders, beginning his pro career with the New England Sea Wolves in 1999.
He spent two seasons there and two in Toronto before coming to Denver when the Crush was added as an expansion team in 2003. On May 4 that year, his brother Dondi was killed in a motorcycle accident. Dondi was more than a brother, though.
He was a friend and mentor in place of an absent father, offering support on the other end of a phone line once Damian moved away from home.
"That really was hard on me, but it didn't register fully until he was in the ground and I wasn't receiving those phone calls," Harrell said. "I wear a T-shirt with his picture on it in every game to let me know why I'm still doing this."
Introducing Mr. Touchdown
What Harrell does better than anyone in arena ball is catch passes and score touchdowns. In 75 games with the Crush, Harrell has 592 catches and 222 touchdowns after Saturday night's 58-56 loss to Grand Rapids (Mich.).
Colorado coach Mike Dailey likens Harrell to an illusionist for his propensity to avoid coverage and make big plays.
"Damian has the ability to get his shoulders outside the framework of his body, make the catch and bring his shoulders back over his body," Dailey said of Harrell, who stands 6-feet-3 and weighs 182 pounds. "Body control is a major factor in catching the football, especially in the Arena League."
Harrell, 31, works his magic in tight quarters. To put it in perspective, the 85-foot-wide by 50-yard arena football field is roughly half the size of a standard outdoor football field. There's no running out of bounds, but there are frequent collisions with 4-foot-tall sideline walls.
"The throws are made fast," Dailey said. "And there's not a lot of time or room to separate from the defensive players."
Dutton can't get one catch out of his mind. It was on a fourth down during a 51-48 Crush victory over Georgia in the Arena League championship game two years ago.
"He had to dive for the catch and made it. It kept our momentum going," Dutton recalled. "There have been some crazy catches. A lot of times, I think the ball is out of bounds, and he jumps up and brings it down with one hand."
Harrell learned his acrobatic moves on the playgrounds in Miami.
"Believe it or not, and it may sound crazy, but I've been making one-handed catches and jumping over people to catch a ball since Little League," Harrell said. "It comes from basketball. We always were taking Michael Jordan-type shots. I've always been able to adjust my body in a way others can't."
Crush owner John Elway, a prominent judge of pass receivers from his Super Bowl days as quarterback for the Broncos, gushes over his star.
"He has the ability to catch the ball when it's anywhere around him as good as anyone I've seen," said Elway, who threw passes to Denver's top two all-time reception leaders, Rod Smith and Shannon Sharpe. "He has the hands and the ability to catch the ball as good as anyone in the NFL."
Which begs the question: With 295 touchdown catches in his nine-year arena career, why isn't Harrell in the NFL? Why hasn't he ever played a down professionally on the big stage?
"Damian has made his living in the Arena League," Elway said. "He has great feel for the game, but maybe not the blazing speed that NFL teams look for."
Harrell had tryouts with Green Bay, Jacksonville and Buffalo over the years. He saw an invitation to the San Francisco 49ers' training camp in 2003 as his best chance to make the leap up, but the death of his brother set him back emotionally, and he also was hampered by a wrist injury he sustained near the end of the previous season.
Harrell figures any NFL chance has passed him by, but he seems content making the most of his opportunity with the Crush.
"Everyone wants to play at the top level," he said. "But once I got past the point of being disappointed and realizing what I was bringing to the Arena League, the NFL was out of sight and out of mind."
Harrell still has some rough edges, but credits Dailey, who arrived in Denver in 2004, for improving his professional approach. Harrell recalls entering the league with gold teeth, a fad of the day.
"I was so naive about how to carry myself as a professional athlete," Harrell said. "He taught me how to walk the walk and say the right things. People sometimes pass judgment on first impressions. I'm more careful how I present myself."
A simple life
Harrell has been hampered by a quadriceps injury all season, "limiting" him to 1,118 yards receiving and 35 touchdowns going into Saturday night's game against Grand Rapids, where he caught 12 passes for 165 yards and five TDs.
"The rest of the league has forgotten about me and the Crush," Harrell said. "But don't be surprised if I'm not right there near the top in touchdowns when it's over. The streak's alive, but the only thing I'm concerned about is that the Crush make it to New Orleans and the ArenaBowl at the end of the year."
If so, he probably won't be hosting "Saturday Night Live," or visiting the White House like Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning did.
Life off the field is simple for this Arena Football star, a husband to Lani Harrell, and father to son Deron, 9, and daughter Malia, 6.
"We like to watch movies and go bowling once in awhile," Lani said. "Damian's the No. 1 motivator for Deron and Malia. Deron wants to be a football player, but in the AFL and not the NFL. Malia plays tennis and is in ballet lessons.
"The kids love to see him playing for the Crush."
Lani reports that preparing baby back ribs on the grill is one of Damian's husbandly duties.
As a father, Harrell tries to keep sports in perspective.
"I worry more about the necessities, the school work, the character," Harrell said. "If I leave suddenly like my brother did, I want them to live their lives and know what's right from what's wrong."
Harrell and other members of the Crush have been guest speakers at Omar Blair School, where Lani is a kindergarten teacher.
"Young people need and want guidance," Harrell said. "They ask me how I got out. They want to know how I made it to being a football player. Sometimes you can learn more on the streets than from anywhere else."
Fun and reflection also mark his time with Deron. The father and son tried fly-fishing for the first time last summer and want to do more of it.
"We had a blast," Harrell said.
Word on the street is the fish don't stand a chance.
Impressive numbers
Damian Harrell has been the Arena Football League's offensive player of the year the past two seasons. He has established himself as the league's premier pass receiver, with some impressive numbers in his AFL career.
5 Has scored five receiving touchdowns in a game 12 times in his Crush career.
6 Team-record six touchdowns May 7 against the Chicago Rush.
6.60 His 11,617 total receiving yards in nine seasons relates to 6.60 miles.
10 Has 21 games with Crush with 10 receptions or more.
15 Team-record 15 receptions, April 30, 2006, against Orlando.
78 A league-record 78 consecutive games with at least one touchdown catch.
222 Leads the league's receivers with 222 touchdown catches since joining the Crush in 2003.
He knows true test of a man
By Irv Moss
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 05/27/2007 01:52:46 AM MDT
Crush WR Harrell has never let adversity be the victor
Damian Harrell, a master at making positives from negatives, performs on the Arena Football League's small stage as if he were under the brightest
spotlight in Denver. He catches passes that appear beyond his grasp and shakes off big hits much as he's handled life's disappointments.
On his way to a record-setting career with the Colorado Crush, Harrell dodged the hazards of street life during his childhood in Miami but wasn't fast enough to outrun a lightning bolt that took the life of his assistant high school coach. When Harrell got back on his feet, he ignored a high school counselor's skepticism about his chances at succeeding in college, then fought through despair when an older brother was killed in a motorcycle accident.
Harrell minimizes attention for what he has overcome by saying everyone in the Crush locker room has experienced rough times. But not everyone in the Crush locker room has caught a touchdown pass in 78 consecutive games. That's a league record.
"He doesn't care about the records," Crush quarterback John Dutton said. "He just wants to be successful in whatever he does, whether it's being a parent, a husband or a football player. He's going to be in the Hall of Fame, and I'll look back 10 or 15 years from now and be glad that I was part of it."
Good times and bad are part of what has brought Harrell to this point.
"What you do and what you've been through is going to make you a stronger or a weaker person," Harrell said. "At an early age, I said I would take the negatives and make them positives, and that makes me stronger. My past drives me."
A storm brews
Harrell's path to becoming the league's offensive player of the year the past two seasons in a game dominated by offense began on the mean streets of Miami.
"I got into plenty of fights," Harrell said, looking back on his elementary school days. "Just walking to school, you had to worry about fighting this guy or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. At any given time, something bad could happen. It was a rough childhood in many ways, but I'm still breathing."
Tall for his age, Harrell earned respect playing basketball with older kids, helping him sidestep trouble. Harrell also credits the guidance of his mother, Faye McKinney, with helping him through the rough times.
One of those came at the age of 15, when he survived a lightning strike that killed South Miami High School assistant football coach Robert Johnson and landed Harrell in the hospital for two weeks. Harrell went on from South Miami to become a junior college All-American at San Francisco City College before a knee injury at Florida State knocked him off the radar screen of NFL scouts.
"A lot of things happened in his life where he could have just bagged it and went in a different direction," Dutton said. "He kept with it. He's one of the toughest people I've ever been around on or off the field."
Harrell earned a degree in criminal justice at Florida State before seeking justice against Arena Football League defenders, beginning his pro career with the New England Sea Wolves in 1999.
He spent two seasons there and two in Toronto before coming to Denver when the Crush was added as an expansion team in 2003. On May 4 that year, his brother Dondi was killed in a motorcycle accident. Dondi was more than a brother, though.
He was a friend and mentor in place of an absent father, offering support on the other end of a phone line once Damian moved away from home.
"That really was hard on me, but it didn't register fully until he was in the ground and I wasn't receiving those phone calls," Harrell said. "I wear a T-shirt with his picture on it in every game to let me know why I'm still doing this."
Introducing Mr. Touchdown
What Harrell does better than anyone in arena ball is catch passes and score touchdowns. In 75 games with the Crush, Harrell has 592 catches and 222 touchdowns after Saturday night's 58-56 loss to Grand Rapids (Mich.).
Colorado coach Mike Dailey likens Harrell to an illusionist for his propensity to avoid coverage and make big plays.
"Damian has the ability to get his shoulders outside the framework of his body, make the catch and bring his shoulders back over his body," Dailey said of Harrell, who stands 6-feet-3 and weighs 182 pounds. "Body control is a major factor in catching the football, especially in the Arena League."
Harrell, 31, works his magic in tight quarters. To put it in perspective, the 85-foot-wide by 50-yard arena football field is roughly half the size of a standard outdoor football field. There's no running out of bounds, but there are frequent collisions with 4-foot-tall sideline walls.
"The throws are made fast," Dailey said. "And there's not a lot of time or room to separate from the defensive players."
Dutton can't get one catch out of his mind. It was on a fourth down during a 51-48 Crush victory over Georgia in the Arena League championship game two years ago.
"He had to dive for the catch and made it. It kept our momentum going," Dutton recalled. "There have been some crazy catches. A lot of times, I think the ball is out of bounds, and he jumps up and brings it down with one hand."
Harrell learned his acrobatic moves on the playgrounds in Miami.
"Believe it or not, and it may sound crazy, but I've been making one-handed catches and jumping over people to catch a ball since Little League," Harrell said. "It comes from basketball. We always were taking Michael Jordan-type shots. I've always been able to adjust my body in a way others can't."
Crush owner John Elway, a prominent judge of pass receivers from his Super Bowl days as quarterback for the Broncos, gushes over his star.
"He has the ability to catch the ball when it's anywhere around him as good as anyone I've seen," said Elway, who threw passes to Denver's top two all-time reception leaders, Rod Smith and Shannon Sharpe. "He has the hands and the ability to catch the ball as good as anyone in the NFL."
Which begs the question: With 295 touchdown catches in his nine-year arena career, why isn't Harrell in the NFL? Why hasn't he ever played a down professionally on the big stage?
"Damian has made his living in the Arena League," Elway said. "He has great feel for the game, but maybe not the blazing speed that NFL teams look for."
Harrell had tryouts with Green Bay, Jacksonville and Buffalo over the years. He saw an invitation to the San Francisco 49ers' training camp in 2003 as his best chance to make the leap up, but the death of his brother set him back emotionally, and he also was hampered by a wrist injury he sustained near the end of the previous season.
Harrell figures any NFL chance has passed him by, but he seems content making the most of his opportunity with the Crush.
"Everyone wants to play at the top level," he said. "But once I got past the point of being disappointed and realizing what I was bringing to the Arena League, the NFL was out of sight and out of mind."
Harrell still has some rough edges, but credits Dailey, who arrived in Denver in 2004, for improving his professional approach. Harrell recalls entering the league with gold teeth, a fad of the day.
"I was so naive about how to carry myself as a professional athlete," Harrell said. "He taught me how to walk the walk and say the right things. People sometimes pass judgment on first impressions. I'm more careful how I present myself."
A simple life
Harrell has been hampered by a quadriceps injury all season, "limiting" him to 1,118 yards receiving and 35 touchdowns going into Saturday night's game against Grand Rapids, where he caught 12 passes for 165 yards and five TDs.
"The rest of the league has forgotten about me and the Crush," Harrell said. "But don't be surprised if I'm not right there near the top in touchdowns when it's over. The streak's alive, but the only thing I'm concerned about is that the Crush make it to New Orleans and the ArenaBowl at the end of the year."
If so, he probably won't be hosting "Saturday Night Live," or visiting the White House like Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning did.
Life off the field is simple for this Arena Football star, a husband to Lani Harrell, and father to son Deron, 9, and daughter Malia, 6.
"We like to watch movies and go bowling once in awhile," Lani said. "Damian's the No. 1 motivator for Deron and Malia. Deron wants to be a football player, but in the AFL and not the NFL. Malia plays tennis and is in ballet lessons.
"The kids love to see him playing for the Crush."
Lani reports that preparing baby back ribs on the grill is one of Damian's husbandly duties.
As a father, Harrell tries to keep sports in perspective.
"I worry more about the necessities, the school work, the character," Harrell said. "If I leave suddenly like my brother did, I want them to live their lives and know what's right from what's wrong."
Harrell and other members of the Crush have been guest speakers at Omar Blair School, where Lani is a kindergarten teacher.
"Young people need and want guidance," Harrell said. "They ask me how I got out. They want to know how I made it to being a football player. Sometimes you can learn more on the streets than from anywhere else."
Fun and reflection also mark his time with Deron. The father and son tried fly-fishing for the first time last summer and want to do more of it.
"We had a blast," Harrell said.
Word on the street is the fish don't stand a chance.
Impressive numbers
Damian Harrell has been the Arena Football League's offensive player of the year the past two seasons. He has established himself as the league's premier pass receiver, with some impressive numbers in his AFL career.
5 Has scored five receiving touchdowns in a game 12 times in his Crush career.
6 Team-record six touchdowns May 7 against the Chicago Rush.
6.60 His 11,617 total receiving yards in nine seasons relates to 6.60 miles.
10 Has 21 games with Crush with 10 receptions or more.
15 Team-record 15 receptions, April 30, 2006, against Orlando.
78 A league-record 78 consecutive games with at least one touchdown catch.
222 Leads the league's receivers with 222 touchdown catches since joining the Crush in 2003.