Derrick Todd Harmon (born April 26, 1963) is a former professional

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 ...

player who played

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 ...

for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

from 1984 to 1986. Harmon played college football at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

, where he still holds numerous records. He was a two-time Academic All-American, a member of the Associated Press Division I-AA All-America second-team, and a two-time member of the All-Ivy first-team. He received the

Asa Bushnell Asa Smith Bushnell I (September 16, 1834 – January 15, 1904) was an American Republican politician from Ohio. He served as the 40th governor of Ohio. Prior to becoming governor, he served as the president of the Warder, Bushnell and Glessner ...

Award as the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schoo ...

Player of the Year, and was named Cornell's first ever Sophomore of the Year in 1981 (now renamed Rookie of the Year). Harmon was the fourth person in

history to go over 1,000 yards in one season, running 1,056 yards in seven Ivy games in 1983, with his leading blocker, David Menapace. He was voted the team's Most Valuable Player and was named the Athlete of the Year of by ''

The Cornell Daily Sun ''The Cornell Daily Sun'' is an independent daily newspaper published in Ithaca, New York by students at Cornell University and hired employees. ''The Sun'' features coverage of the university and its environs as well as stories from the Associa ...

'' and ''

The Ithaca Journal ''The Ithaca Journal'' is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper published in Ithaca, New York. It is locally edited and printed in Johnson City, New York, and publishes Monday through Saturday. It has been owned by Gannett since 1912. Publication ...

''. Harmon graduated as an engineering physics major in 1984 and was a member of the

Quill and Dagger Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University. It is often recognized as one of the most prominent societies of its type, along with Skull and Bones and Scroll and Key at Yale University. In 1929, ''The New York Times'' stated ...

society. In 1984, Harmon was drafted to the

National Football League 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 ma ...

in the ninth round by the

. It was not until 1997 that another Cornellian was drafted by 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 played in the

Super Bowl XIX Super Bowl XIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion fo ...

win against the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pl ...

in 1985 and was the first alumnus of

to win a Super Bowl ring. Harmon was inducted into the

Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989.Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame
/ref> He is the brother of

players

Ronnie Harmon Ronnie Keith Harmon (born May 7, 1964) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). After a standout career at the University of Iowa in the Big Ten Conference, he played for ...

and

Kevin Harmon Kevin Anthony Harmon (born October 26, 1966) is a former American football running back. He was fourth round draft pick and played for the Seattle Seahawks from 1988 to 1989. He is the younger brother of former NFL players Derrick Harmon and Ro ...

. Derrick was an engineering student and later pursued a career in academics.

References

1963 births Living people Cornell Big Red football players San Francisco 49ers players Cornell University College of Engineering alumni Bayside High School (Queens) alumni {{runningback-1960s-stub