Robert Harrell (September 25, 1915 – December 2, 2002) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

coach. He coached at the

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

and collegiate level in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and Oklahoma.

Playing career

Harrell grew up in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

. When he was a teenager, his father became too ill to work and left his wife and son and moved in with his own mother in Arlington. In spite of his desperate situation, Harrell stayed focused on his promising football career, and when his coach at Polytechnic High School,

Wes Bradshaw Wesley Walker Bradshaw (November 26, 1897 – April 10, 1960) was an American football player and coach. He was an All- Southwest Conference (SWC) back at Baylor University and was the first Southwest Conference football player to score 100 poi ...

, heard about the boy's predicament, he invited Harrell to stay with him. Bradshaw encouraged Harrell to try out for a football scholarship at

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...

in 1934, and Harrell successfully drew the attention of

Dutch Meyer Leo Robert "Dutch" Meyer (January 15, 1898 – December 3, 1982) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Texas Christian University (TCU) from 1934 to 1952, compiling a record ...

. On the first day of practice at TCU, Harrell – a high school quarterback – watched

Sammy Baugh Samuel Adrian Baugh (March 17, 1914 – December 17, 2008) was an American professional football player and coach. During his college and professional careers, he most notably played quarterback, but also played as a safety and punter. H ...

work out, and immediately chose to compete for the halfback position instead. He was a three-time letterman in 1935, 1937 and 1938.

Coaching career

Just after graduation, Harrell began his coaching career at the Central Texas town of DeLeon. However,

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

interrupted his career in 1941. Serving in the rank of a sergeant, Harrell was stationed on

Camp Wolters Fort Wolters was a United States military installation four miles northeast of Mineral Wells, Texas. Originally named Camp Wolters, it was an Army camp from 1925 to 1946. During World War II, it was for a time the largest infantry replacement tra ...

near

Mineral Wells, Texas Mineral Wells is a city in Palo Pinto and Parker Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 16,788 at the 2010 census (14,644 in Palo Pinto and 2144 in Parker). The city is named for mineral wells in the area, which were highly pop ...

, where he was in charge of sixty men. After the war, Harrell restarted his coaching career, with stops at

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrat ...

, Denison, Greenville, Lamesa, and Corpus Christi Miller. In 1953, he became head coach at San Angelo Central, before leaving in 1959. In 1961, Harrell took over at

Irving Irving may refer to: People *Irving (name), including a list of people with the name Fictional characters * Irving, the main character's love interest in Cathy (comic strip) * Lloyd Irving, the main protagonist in the ''Tales of Symphonia'' vide ...

. In 1962, Irving went undefeated through the season, only to lose 27–7 to Borger in the bi-district game. Harrell ended his career in 1964. He died in 2002.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrell, Bob 1915 births 2002 deaths American football halfbacks TCU Horned Frogs football players High school football coaches in Texas Tulsa Golden Hurricane football coaches Players of American football from Fort Worth, Texas United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army non-commissioned officers