Harris develops talent inherited from former star: his mom
By Kyle Neddenriep
Posted: June 17, 2010
On the basketball courts in her hometown of Mansfield, Ohio, Joy Holmes was known as the "Mansfield Magnet." In high school, she had an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time on defense and turning those steals into easy points.
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Good genes: Joy Holmes Harris (above), who played in the pros, can no longer keep up with her son, Hamilton Southeastern's Gary Harris, on the basketball court. - Matt Kryger / The Star
Solid defender: Gary Harris starts a fast break for Hamilton Southeastern in a game last season at Hinkle Fieldhouse. - Matt Kryger / The Star
Holmes -- now Joy Holmes Harris -- sees some of those same attributes in her son Gary Harris, who will be a junior at Hamilton Southeastern and whose college recruitment has hit full throttle this spring.
"I see some similarities in our games," said Holmes Harris, a former WNBA player who was a Kodak All-American as a senior at Purdue in 1991 and named the Big Ten's women's co-Athlete of the Year. "But he's a whole lot better as an all-around player than I was at his age. I probably had two assists my entire career, but he's really good at getting his teammates involved."
The accolades are piling up from the outside. Holmes Harris stops short of giving her oldest of three sons too much credit. She has been through the recruiting game as a player and assistant college coach -- though, she acknowledges, not to this extent -- and knows the flattery ends once you get to college.
Her message to Gary: Keep working, keep improving. The rest will take care of itself.
"He has a lot of people telling him he's doing a great job, but when he gets to college, there are going to be a lot of players at that level or higher," said Holmes Harris, whose coaching career includes a stint at IUPUI. "You have to keep grounded and never be satisfied. You have to continue to make yourself better and push yourself to a higher level."
