Roland Harper (born February 28, 1953) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

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 American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for eight seasons with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs before being selected in the 17th and final round of the

1975 NFL draft The 1975 NFL draft was held January 28–29, 1975, at the New York Hilton at Rockefeller Center in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Atlanta Falcons selected quarterback Steve Bartkowski. Player selectio ...

. He was a starting fullback known in his playing days as a punishing blocker who opened holes in opposing defenses for star halfback

Walter Payton Walter Jerry Payton (July 25, 1953Although most sources at the time of his death gave Payton's birth year as 1954, reliable sources subsequently state he was born in 1953. – November 1, 1999) was an American professional American football, ...

. Harper ranks sixth on the Bears' all-time rushing list with 3,044 yards and 15 TDs on 757 carries in seven seasons. Harper was inducted into the

Louisiana Tech University Athletic Hall of Fame The Louisiana Tech University Athletic Hall of Fame was established in 1984 to honor student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and benefactors who have been highly successful at Louisiana Tech and who have distinguished themselves professionally. T ...

in 1986. Although he was selected in the final round of the 1975 draft, Harper wound up as the Bears starting fullback that season. He was joined in the backfield that season by fellow rookie Payton, who was the Bears first round draft choice that season. Fellow rookie Bob Avellini, the Bears sixth round draft pick in 1975, also started several games at

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

that season, giving the Bears an all rookie backfield. Harper, Payton and Avelleni started most of the games for the Bears together from 1976 through 1978. In his rookie season, Harper rushed for 453 yards on 100 carries. His 4.5 yards per rushing attempt ranked 7th in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

that season. He also caught 27 passes for 191 yards in 1975. In 1976, Harper started all 14 games and increased his rushing yards total to 625 on 147 carries, for a 4.3 yards per carry average. He also caught 29 passes for 291 yards. In 1977, Harper rushed for 457 yards on 120 carries, a 3.8 yards per carry average, and caught 19 passes for 142 yards. Harper's best season was 1978, when he rushed for 992 yards on 240 carries, for a 4.1 yards per carry average. Since Payton rushed for 1,395 yards that season, he fell just eight rushing yards short of making the 1978 Bears the 3rd NFL team and 1st NFC team to have two players with at least 1,000 rushing yards (after the 1972 Miami Dolphins and the 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers). He also caught a career-high 43 passes that season for 340 yards, and set another career high by scoring eight

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s (six rushing, two receiving). His 1332 total yards from scrimmage ranked 10th in the NFL that season, and his 240 rushing attempts also ranked 10th in the NFL. Harper missed the entire 1979 season due to a knee injury. However, he returned in 1980 and started 12 games. In 1980, he rushed for 404 yards on 113 carries for a 3.6 yards per carry average and caught just 7 passes for 31 yards, but his blocking helped Payton run for 1,460 yards. Although Harper played in 15 games in 1981, he was supplanted as the starting fullback for most of the season by Matt Suhey. He rushed for just 106 yards on 34 carries (a 3.1 average) and caught just two passes all year for ten yards. Harper's final season was 1982, when he played in eight games, rushed for seven yards on three carries, and caught one pass for eight yards. After his playing career ended, Harper continued to live in the Chicago area. Since 1990, he ran Rohar Trucking and Excavating, a company that does snow removal, trucking, transporting construction materials and erecting steel. The company helped build the skyboxes at

Soldier Field Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side, Chicago, Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears from the National ...

, the Bears' home field. In June 2008, Harper pleaded guilty to one count of

mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

. The fraud allowed Monahan Landscape Co.. a white-owned firm, to receive a $1.5 million Chicago Public Schools landscaping contract that was supposed to be reserved for minority-owned firms. The plea also revealed that Rohar was controlled by Monahan. In June 2009 he was sentenced to two years

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

, including one year

house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Roland 1953 births Living people American football fullbacks Captain Shreve High School alumni Chicago Bears players Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football players Sportspeople from Seguin, Texas Brian Piccolo Award winners