Stanford, 49ers lineman Harris struggled with being gay football star


There had never been anyone like him before.

Little did we know the extent to which that would go.

But that was our belief when Kwame Harris, all 6-foot-5 and 300 pounds of him and still growing, showed up on Newark High’s offensive line as a ninth-grade phenom in 1996.

It was preposterous. Nobody could be that good and that big as a freshman.

In 1997, Harris became Delaware’s first offensive lineman to be first-team All-State as a sophomore. By his senior year in 1999, he was a three-time choice, a two-way first-team pick while also starring on the state champion Yellowjackets’ defensive front, plus the first lineman to be state Offensive Player of the Year.

The Harris brothers of Newark High football fame Orien (left) and Kwame at the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame banquet.

By that time, college football’s recruiting eyes, which had rarely glanced toward the First State, were riveted on Harris. Penn State coach Joe Paterno landed on the field at Hoffman Memorial Stadium in a helicopter when he came to woo him.

Those coaches learned they had to time their visits appropriately, then-Newark coach Butch Simpson said, because Harris would not miss class to meet them because it might undermine his studies. The fact Harris was a standout student, accomplished pianist and violinist, avid reader and engaging conversationalist only added to the sense of wonder that enveloped him.



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