The man behind the voice

Jack Harris, who has been on radio and TV in Tampa since 1970, is a stranger to anonymity.

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 30, 2002

The Lord's Prayer, copied in schoolboy script, was Jack's childhood handiwork. A doodle by pop artist Peter Maxx was a gift. Joy sewed the velvet and brocade patchwork quilt tossed over the living room sofa.

She also managed to splash pink throughout, a color that adds warmth and makes Harris laugh when a visitor points it out.

He ribs Joy about it: "You didn't sneak in more pink when I wasn't looking?"

Joy just laughs.

He sometimes calls her "The Fish Lady."

It's an endearing nod to her old job as seafood marketing coordinator for the Florida Department of Natural Resources. They met 18 years ago when they cooked together on the set of a Channel 13 show called Pulse Plus. Well, actually, Joy was doing the cooking. Something she still does as well as she decorates. Sentimental but not kitsch. Pretty but not girly.

Visitors go "ahhh."

Jack just smiles and shrugs.

He doesn't give a hoot about decorating.

When they built the 3,500-square-foot house a decade ago, there were only two things he wanted.

A billiard room. And a big shower.

He got both.

And a place to rest.

Weekends he "bulks up" on sleep. Without an alarm, 10 hours might sneak by before he wakes up.

Still, relaxation means appearing at a charity auction or calling plays at a Tampa Bay Storm game.

"Some people love to play golf for three or four hours," he says.

"I love to broadcast a game."

Jack Harris

• OCCUPATION: Co-host, A.M. Tampa Bay on WFLA radio, weekdays 5 a.m. to 9 a.m.
• AGE: 60
• FAMILY: Wife, Joy. Son, Jackson, 11.
• RESIDENCE: Beach Park
• HOBBIES: Spending time with family, playing pool.
• LITERARY TASTE: From William Faulkner to Dave Barry.
• TV: Old movies, Seinfeld.
• EXERCISE: Runs three times a week.
• FAVORITE FOODS: Joy's macaroni casserole, shepherd's pie and Brunswick stew.
• FAVORITE TRANSIT: Trains, streetcars, subways. "Rails of any kind," he says. "Even trams at Disney."
• HAUNTS: Iavarone's Steak House, Ruth's Chris Steak House, Carrabba's Italian Grill

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