Harris' legacy goes beyond banners

Harris walked past and then started walking up the bleachers, and before I knew it, I heard, "Hi, Steve, how are you?" I couldn't believe it. Harris was sitting next to me. We spent about 10 minutes together. Here was this great coach, about to be on the grand stage of high school basketball, and he was taking time to sit with me. He was so calm, confident and caring.

I thought back to all those summers he let me spend with Wooden and how Wooden used to say, "A coach's most important work happens in practice. I should be able to sit up in the bleachers during games, and if I did my job, my players should know what to do." Harris had truly mastered the art of coaching.

It was a blowout. The Ocean View Seahawks were victorious once again. As I watched Harris hoist up the CIF championship plaque and saw his players look up to him with awe, I wished they could have witnessed their coach's kindness before the game, for it was there that Harris showed me what a champion looks like.

Last year, I moved on to be the head JV coach at Los Alamitos High School. So in the spring, Harris called me and said he wouldn't have any assistants at Ocean View's game one Saturday and he asked me to join him on the bench.

I sat next to the man I admired so much. He not only coached his team to another win, but during the game, kept talking to me, showing me what he was looking for and why he would say one thing to this player and that to another player. Harris was devoted to his team, loyal to his school, committed to his craft and an ambassador of his profession.

The center court of Ocean View's gym is inked with these words: character, integrity, sacrifice, courage, loyalty, unity, spirit, tradition, commitment and love. It's time they add the words Coach Harris Court, and before the 2011-12 basketball season begins, the gym that Harris built should be adorned with his name.

This past July, on the last day of the Gahr summer league, my JV team finished our final game of the summer season. As our game ended, Ocean View's varsity team started theirs on the center court. I stayed and watched my mentor do what he loved, thinking about the time the master let me share his bench. Ocean View ran over their opponent by 40 points.