Harris earns national honor

When Joseph Harris was working on a list of goals in a class at Washington High School several years ago, he listed becoming an All-American Scholar as one of his goals. Last week, he marked that goal accomplished.

After recently graduating Valparaiso University with a degree in accounting, Harris is working on an internship at the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort. He was at work when his coach called him to let him know that he and two other graduated seniors from his golf team, were honored by the Golf Coaches Association of America. The student-athletes had to have at least a 3.5 grade point average to earn the honor. This matches the program?s highest number of honorees in a single season.

?When I was a sophomore (in college) I asked my coach what it took to get this kind of honor,? Harris said. ?I saw that I was on the right track academically, but I needed to work on my stroke average a little more. I tried to make a big step in my golf game so I could get this kind of honor. It was one of my long-term goals since I was a sophomore and knew I had what it took to get this.?

Jim and Ann Harris, Joseph?s parents, remember when Joseph was about 5 years old hitting golf balls from the family?s front yard into the neighboring Washington Golf Course green. Jim Harris remembers when the golf course would call them to say Joseph was on the course, in the landing area of golf balls, hitting the balls back to the family home. He began riding with Jim Harris on golf outings.

?He was the only one who took to it,? Jim Harris said. ?We took both our other children over there. Our oldest son is an accomplished athlete, but he never picked up golf. Joe is the only one who, given our location and my predilection for it, picked it up.?

As he grew, Harris took up baseball and golf. He reached a point in his athletic career, he said, when he was faced with a decision to continue playing both sports, or to focus on one and become great at one. He chose to let baseball go and concentrate on getting really good at golf.

?It was difficult,? he said. ?I have a lot of good friends on those baseball teams and I didn?t get to hang out with them as much and enjoy the fun parts of winning games with them. It did open up the door for me to make new friends and make stronger bonds with my future golf teammates.?

As a member of the Washington Demons golf team, Harris was a member through four of the five years of championships.

After high school, Harris said, a golf instructor of his had recommended the head coach at Valparaiso as a way of progressing. The Valpo golf program had only restarted two years before Harris applied. Harris said the coach who recruited him to play for Valpo ended up leaving and not being his coach.

Harris said playing on the golf team during college was a challenge. He described having practices for about three hours a day. When the team had an away tourney, he had to miss class. He also said he thought tourneys would be held on weekends and mostly they were held on Mondays and Tuesdays. The tournaments would consist of 54 holes in two days. During his junior year, he missed about 30 days of class. He said that he always made sure to make up the work and to speak with his professors regularly to make sure he understood the material.

During competition, Joseph said that he was amazed at how many tournaments ? some as far away as Michigan, North Carolina, or Idaho ? his father attended.

?I don?t know who is going to miss it more ? Joe or his dad,? Jim Harris said with a chuckle.

Ann Harris also said a rough part of being on the team is the selection process of the coach choosing five players of the 12 people on the team to go to the tournament.

When he graduated, Harris ranked among the team?s top five golfers during the 2014-15 season. He closed his career with two top-fives, three top-10s and finished with an average of 75.96. He also earned a grade point average of 3.843.

?We?re very proud of him,? Ann Harris said. ?He?s exceeded all of our expectations.?

?Its been a fun run,? Jim Harris said.