FRANKLIN - David Harrison always seemed destined to be an NFL player. His dad, Dennis, is a former NFL star.
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Thursday, 08/10/06
BA grad chooses own path to pros
Harrison, ex-football star, now Indiana Pacer, teaches kids the ropes at NBA/WNBA camp
By CHIP CIRILLO
Staff Writer
FRANKLIN — David Harrison always seemed destined to be an NFL player.
His dad, Dennis, is a former NFL star. David played at Brentwood Academy, a high school synonymous with state championships in football.
But there he was Tuesday, an Indiana Pacers center serving as an instructor at the Junior NBA/Junior WNBA Basketball Camp at Battle Ground Academy.
Harrison believes that BA football coach Carlton Flatt still wishes his star lineman had chosen the NFL over the NBA.
"If you ask Coach Flatt, to this day I think he's disappointed that I stopped playing football," Harrison said. "He was always like, 'I thought you were going to play on Sundays.' "
Harrison wanted to form his own identity, though. So the 7-foot member of the class of 2001 chose basketball over football in a state where football is everything.
"I always wanted to do my thing with my life," Harrison said. "I always loved football. I loved playing it. I loved the physicality of it, but that was my dad's thing."
His father, Dennis, is well known in the Nashville area after gaining the attention of NFL scouts at Vanderbilt in the mid-1970s. He played in the NFL for 11 years, including a 1981 Super Bowl appearance with Philadelphia in a loss to Oakland. Today, he teaches and coaches at Brentwood Middle School.
"Growing up under my dad's shadow, I didn't want to live under it, too," Harrison said. "So basketball was a way for me to branch out."
Harrison gave up football after his senior year at BA before moving on to play basketball in college at Colorado. He was the 29th overall pick by Indiana in the 2004 NBA Draft.
He completed his second season with the Pacers (41-41) in May when they lost to New Jersey in the first round of the playoffs.
"We probably had one of the best teams in the NBA last year," Harrison said. "We were the definition of underachieving, and we put a stamp on it. We should have been way better."
Harrison is doing everything in his power to improve his game during the offseason so he won't be left with the crummy feeling of unfulfilled potential again next summer. Miami won the NBA title last season, but Indiana beat the Heat in two out of three matchups.
"We have depth. We have talent," Harrison said. "We have everything you need to win a championship. We've just got to put it together."
Harrison has slimmed down the past two seasons, going from 295 pounds to 270. That's helped him increase his playing time.
"That was the biggest fault on me coming out of college," Harrison said. "Everybody thought I was fat, lazy and out of shape. But that's what I've been trying to prove over the last three seasons, that I'm not."
Fellow instructor Jan van Breda Kolff, a former Vanderbilt coach who played in the NBA for seven seasons, believes Harrison has a bright future.
"David is obviously a very skilled player," van Breda Kolff said. "He understands how to play, and he's had success at every level. He went to an Indiana Pacers team that was a pretty veteran team but had some injuries his rookie year, so he kind of got an opportunity to play right away because of that. I think he's going to have a great NBA career."
Harrison's rookie season was marred by his part in a brawl between Indiana and Detroit that also involved fans in Auburn Hills, Mich.
He is averaging 5.9 points and 3.5 rebounds during his first two years with the Pacers, who boasted the league's best regular-season record the season before he arrived.
Harrison worked with 200 campers Tuesday during a 10-city tour that exposes the NBA and WNBA to towns that don't have franchises.
"He's making a lot of money and he doesn't need to be here, but he's high-fiving the kids and patting them on the back," van Breda Kolff said. "I think that's really an inspiration to the kids to see an NBA player from the city of Nashville come back and help the younger kids."
Teresa Edwards, a four-time Olympic gold medalist who was also an instructor at the camp, said Harrison has a great opportunity in the NBA.
"It's all about opportunity. It's up to him," Edwards said. "He holds his career and his future in the palm of his hands and the ball of his toes in his shoes. He has to put in the work and make it happen and not just think he deserves it because he's already there. I wish the young man all the best."
More...
Thursday, 08/10/06
BA grad chooses own path to pros
Harrison, ex-football star, now Indiana Pacer, teaches kids the ropes at NBA/WNBA camp
By CHIP CIRILLO
Staff Writer
FRANKLIN — David Harrison always seemed destined to be an NFL player.
His dad, Dennis, is a former NFL star. David played at Brentwood Academy, a high school synonymous with state championships in football.
But there he was Tuesday, an Indiana Pacers center serving as an instructor at the Junior NBA/Junior WNBA Basketball Camp at Battle Ground Academy.
Harrison believes that BA football coach Carlton Flatt still wishes his star lineman had chosen the NFL over the NBA.
"If you ask Coach Flatt, to this day I think he's disappointed that I stopped playing football," Harrison said. "He was always like, 'I thought you were going to play on Sundays.' "
Harrison wanted to form his own identity, though. So the 7-foot member of the class of 2001 chose basketball over football in a state where football is everything.
"I always wanted to do my thing with my life," Harrison said. "I always loved football. I loved playing it. I loved the physicality of it, but that was my dad's thing."
His father, Dennis, is well known in the Nashville area after gaining the attention of NFL scouts at Vanderbilt in the mid-1970s. He played in the NFL for 11 years, including a 1981 Super Bowl appearance with Philadelphia in a loss to Oakland. Today, he teaches and coaches at Brentwood Middle School.
"Growing up under my dad's shadow, I didn't want to live under it, too," Harrison said. "So basketball was a way for me to branch out."
Harrison gave up football after his senior year at BA before moving on to play basketball in college at Colorado. He was the 29th overall pick by Indiana in the 2004 NBA Draft.
He completed his second season with the Pacers (41-41) in May when they lost to New Jersey in the first round of the playoffs.
"We probably had one of the best teams in the NBA last year," Harrison said. "We were the definition of underachieving, and we put a stamp on it. We should have been way better."
Harrison is doing everything in his power to improve his game during the offseason so he won't be left with the crummy feeling of unfulfilled potential again next summer. Miami won the NBA title last season, but Indiana beat the Heat in two out of three matchups.
"We have depth. We have talent," Harrison said. "We have everything you need to win a championship. We've just got to put it together."
Harrison has slimmed down the past two seasons, going from 295 pounds to 270. That's helped him increase his playing time.
"That was the biggest fault on me coming out of college," Harrison said. "Everybody thought I was fat, lazy and out of shape. But that's what I've been trying to prove over the last three seasons, that I'm not."
Fellow instructor Jan van Breda Kolff, a former Vanderbilt coach who played in the NBA for seven seasons, believes Harrison has a bright future.
"David is obviously a very skilled player," van Breda Kolff said. "He understands how to play, and he's had success at every level. He went to an Indiana Pacers team that was a pretty veteran team but had some injuries his rookie year, so he kind of got an opportunity to play right away because of that. I think he's going to have a great NBA career."
Harrison's rookie season was marred by his part in a brawl between Indiana and Detroit that also involved fans in Auburn Hills, Mich.
He is averaging 5.9 points and 3.5 rebounds during his first two years with the Pacers, who boasted the league's best regular-season record the season before he arrived.
Harrison worked with 200 campers Tuesday during a 10-city tour that exposes the NBA and WNBA to towns that don't have franchises.
"He's making a lot of money and he doesn't need to be here, but he's high-fiving the kids and patting them on the back," van Breda Kolff said. "I think that's really an inspiration to the kids to see an NBA player from the city of Nashville come back and help the younger kids."
Teresa Edwards, a four-time Olympic gold medalist who was also an instructor at the camp, said Harrison has a great opportunity in the NBA.
"It's all about opportunity. It's up to him," Edwards said. "He holds his career and his future in the palm of his hands and the ball of his toes in his shoes. He has to put in the work and make it happen and not just think he deserves it because he's already there. I wish the young man all the best."
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