Bruce Harper (born June 20, 1955) is a retired

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 ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...

and

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

for the New York Jets of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

. He was signed as an undrafted

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

out of

Kutztown Kutztown (Pennsylvania German: ''Kutzeschteddel'') is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located southwest of Allentown and northeast of Reading. As of the 2010 census, the borough had a population of 5,012. Kutztown ...

by the Jets in 1977. Bruce Harper is the all-time kick returner in New York Jets history with 5,407 yards in kickoff returns. He also served as the Jets punt returner from 1977 to 1982, totalling 1,784 PR yards and 1 touchdown. Harper also played running back. His total yards are 11,429: 1,829 rushing yards, 2,409 receiving yards, 1,784 PR yards and 5,407 KR yards. Harper played high school football at

Dwight Morrow High School Dwight Morrow High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Englewood, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Englewood Public School District. The school also serves students from Englew ...

in Englewood.Rondinaro, Gene
"Picturesque, Affluent West of Palisades"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', November 3, 1996. Accessed July 26, 2011. "A SHORT distance west of the Palisades and bordering the Boy Scouts' Camp Alpine is the picturesque and affluent Bergen County Borough of Norwood, just 10 miles northwest of the

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee, New Jersey, with Manhattan in New York City. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the Unite ...

.... A FORMER football standout at Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, Mr. Harper was interested in finding a small, diverse community to live and raise a family in away from the media hype of New York's sports world.... Like Mr. Harper, other sports figures such as

Don Mattingly Donald Arthur Mattingly (born April 20, 1961) is an American former professional baseball first baseman, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is the bench coach for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknam ...

Gene Michael Eugene Richard Michael (June 2, 1938 – September 7, 2017), known as Stick, was an American professional baseball player, coach, scout, manager and team executive. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop from 1966 to 1975, most promine ...

, Craig Nettles, Jim (Catfish) Hunter and Kenny Anderson have at one time or another called the borough home." He moved on to play at Kutztown State College, where he became the school's first 1,000 yard rusher. Harper's 42 jersey is the jersey worn by diehard Jets fan Fireman Ed. Harper was a longtime resident of

Norwood, New Jersey Norwood is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 5,711,Closter, New Jersey Closter (Westergaard, Barbara"Closter: Bergen" ''New Jersey: A Guide to the State'', p. 78. Rutgers University Press, 2006. . Accessed July 22, 2011. "Known locally as the "hub of the Northern Valley," Closter (pronounced with a long ''o'') was ...

.Spelling, Ian
"Hero Worship: Former Jets star Bruce Harper inspires sportsmanship and good character"
, ''(201) magazine'', August 1, 2009. Accessed July 26, 2011. "Likewise, Harper is a Bergen lifer. He was born in Englewood, lived for a time in Fort Lee, bought a house in Englewood, moved to Norwood, and currently resides in Closter with his wife, Nancy." Harper is founder and director of the non-for-profit organization Heroes & Cool Kids, established in 1998. Based in school systems throughout New Jersey, the mentoring program reaches out to elementary and middle-school kids by high school athletes and students of the same district. The high school students are trained through the Heroes and Cool Kids' curriculum and by former professional athletes, such as former NFL player,

Keith Elias Keith Hector Elias (born February 3, 1972) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) and XFL. He was an All-American in high school and college where he established school, conference and national records ...

, former Los Angeles Lakers player, John Celestand, and former

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

player, Tim Bassett.

References

External links

Rival Coaches Laud Harper

Jet's Harper Proves He's Not Too SmallHeroes and Cool Kids
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Bruce 1955 births Living people African-American players of American football American football running backs American football return specialists Dwight Morrow High School alumni Kutztown Golden Bears football players New York Jets players People from Closter, New Jersey People from Englewood, New Jersey People from Norwood, New Jersey Players of American football from New Jersey Sportspeople from Bergen County, New Jersey 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople