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By FRANK PASTOR
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 21, 2001
As his friend's car flipped into the air and crashed onto its roof, passenger Kevin "Kay Jay" Harris had no idea that the accident would turn his world upside down, too.
A multi-sport star at Tampa Bay Tech, Harris hoped to play football in college, perhaps the NFL.
But when a hand injury suffered in the accident robbed him of his final high school basketball season, a restless Harris chose to play baseball.
The decision led to his being drafted by the Texas Rangers and walking away from football.
Four years later, Harris, 23, is retracing those steps. Unhappy with his progress in baseball, the 1997 TBT graduate is returning to college to resuscitate his football career.
Harris began practice Aug. 10 at Garden City (Kan.) Community College. He will play his first game in five years Sept. 1 against Dodge City CC.
"When it came to the end of the year and (the Rangers) were moving people, I wasn't getting moved," Harris said. "I just got impatient with it. I need to go back to doing something I really love."
Few athletes possess the talent and drive to pull off such a dramatic switch.
Carolina Panthers quarterback Chris Weinke won the the Heisman Trophy at Florida State after six years of minor-league baseball. Dallas Cowboys signalcaller Quincy Carter played two years of pro ball before finding gridiron success at Georgia.
Harris appears to have similar potential.
"You're talking about a kid that's 6-1, 220-230 pounds who can jump, catch, elude tacklers, run over tacklers, handle punts and handle kickoff returns," TBT coach John Colbert said. "The versatility of his athleticism is what jumps out."
Harris found success in every sport he tried.
An all-county football player, Harris won a state long jump title though he rarely practiced. He was drafted after just one season of high school baseball.
But for a kid with so much talent, fate often guided his way.
The house he shared with his mother and four siblings burned down when he was a junior. Police suspected arson. Harris moved into his grandmother's house and later took up residence with his friend, Kyle Akins.
Harris and Akins grew to be as close as brothers. Their bond tightened after a '96 car accident.
After staying up late to type an English paper, Akins was driving Harris and another friend to school when he fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into an electrical pole at 45 mph. Akins hit the dashboard face first, breaking eight teeth. His chest slammed into the steering wheel, bruising his ribs. Harris, also thrown into the windshield, tore tendons in his right index finger.
"I was asleep," Harris said. "I heard, "Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!' When I opened my eyes, we were upside down. From the looks of the car, nobody should have walked out of it."
A radio station erroneously reported that the students had died, and a similar announcement was made at school.
About 30 students signed out to mourn their friends. But when they arrived at the hospital, Akins was up walking after X-rays, and Harris was having his finger sewn.
Years later, Akins looks at the accident as a turning point in Harris' life.
"It contributed to him making his money in baseball and playing baseball," Akins said. "If we hadn't had the accident, he wouldn't have played (high school) baseball that year."
Harris had plastic surgery on the finger. It was placed in a cast, forcing him to miss the final 15 weeks of basketball. When the cast was removed, he turned to baseball.
Though he had not played since junior high, Harris hit .299 and led his team in stolen bases.
On graduation day, the Rangers drafted Harris in the 10th round of the amateur draft.
"I didn't know I'd go so high," he said. "With just one year playing (high school) baseball, I thought I'd go in the 25th round or after."
Harris passed up a football scholarship to Florida A&M to sign with the Rangers. He played three seasons of minor-league ball, reaching Class A Savannah (Ga.) of the South Atlantic League in '98 before finishing his career one year later with the independent Ozark (Mo.) Mountain Ducks.
Bruce Crabbe, Harris' manager at Pulaski (Va.) of the Appalachian League, said Harris struck him right away as a football player.
"Strong body build, athletic, could run very well, very powerful," Crabbe said. "Pretty much a football body from what I remember."
Frustrated with his slow progress, Harris turned on the TV to watch players such as Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Darrell Jackson and Buccaneers quarterback Shaun King -- former high school opponents -- playing in the NFL.
"I know I can play with those guys," he thought.
When Harris decided to return to football, he contacted Colbert, a former guard at Dodge City CC.
Since Harris wasn't academically qualified to play Division I, Colbert directed him toward junior colleges in Mississippi and Kansas. Harris liked the Jayhawk Conference, which produced NFL players Corey Dillon of the Cincinnati Bengals and Frank Murphy of the Buccaneers.
Garden City coach Bob Larson said he wasn't concerned about the years Harris spent away from football. One of Larson's former players, quarterback Corey Jenkins, had made the same switch. After two seasons as a junior college All-American, Jenkins signed with South Carolina.
"Probably the thing that stands out already, and I've seen it in "Kay Jay', is not so much the athletic ability but the maturity, the worldliness," Larson said. "These guys got paid to be professional athletes, and they know what it takes."
Harris will compete with TCU recruit Tyson Thompson of Irving, Tex., and converted wide receiver Josh Wilson of Kansas for the starting tailback spot in Garden City's I-formation backfield.
Harris took classes over the summer and worked out on his own. He hopes to graduate in December 2002, then transfer to a Division I school.
"I have a lot of options," he said. "I just have to wait until after the season starts to see where I'm at."
Though it sidetracked his football career, Harris has no regrets about playing baseball.
"Most people should have that opportunity -- to travel, to see small towns you've never heard of, to get away from home," he said. "The experiences I had out of high school, that was enjoyable. If I had to do it out of high school, I would have done it all over again."
AGE: 23
INTERESTS: PlayStation 2, music, tennis shoes (He owns about 40 pairs, "basically all Jordans").
FAVORITE FOOD: Lasagna
FAVORITE TV SHOW: The Jamie Foxx Show
FAVORITE MOVIES: The Fast and the Furious, Next Friday
FAVORITE VIDEO GAME: John Madden Football 2001, NCAA College Football 2002
FAVORITE MUSICAL ARTIST: OutKast
FAVORITE TEAMS: Utah Jazz ("When I was in elementary school, I was able to dunk. One of my buddies used to call me, "The Mailman"), Denver Broncos ("Terrell Davis is my man.").
FAVORITE ATHLETES: Karl Malone, Terrell Davis
Kevin Harris' minor league baseball statistics:
(Year, Team, (League),G,R,H,RBI,SB,Avg.)
1997, Rangers, Gulf Coast (Rookie),32,10,16,8,11,.163
1998, Savannah, South Atlantic (Class A),27,12,14,9,5,.163
1998, Pulaski, Appalachian (Rookie),60,37,52,35,25,.224
1999, Savannah, South Atlantic (Class A),59,15,29,11,8,.161
1999, Ozark, Texas Louisiana (Independent),21,10,12,5,6,.171
Totals,199,84,123,68,55,.185