First black quarterback James Harris retires after 46 seasons with NFL
You are probably looking at the title and thinking to yourselves really? How can this happen, but James Harris the former Buffalo Bills eighth round pick of the 1969 NFL Draft has finally retired from the NFL.
The man who became the first African-American quarterback to start a regular-season opener and who went on to lead an NFL front office has ended his career in football, 46 years after entering the league through the draft.
Via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Lions senior personnel advisor James “Shack” Harris has retired at age 67.
Harris was a Pro Bowler with the Rams in 1974, the year he led the Rams to the NFC Championship game.
NFL Draft Diamonds was created to assist the underdogs playing the sport. We call them diamonds in the rough. My name is Damond Talbot, I have worked extremely hard to help hundreds of small school players over the past several years, and will continue my mission. We have several contributors on this site, and if they contribute their name and contact will be in the piece above. You can email me at nfldraftdiamonds@gmail.com