Gerry Harris (2019)

Gerry Harris (2019)

Gerry Harris loved working with students, coaching athletes and helping others. He served Luther College High School for over 30 years as a teacher and coach.

Gerry’s relationship with Luther College began as a high school student when he enrolled in 1965, graduating in 1969. As a student, he was involved in the SRC and a dedicated Luther Lion athlete, playing baseball, football, track and field, wrestling and basketball.

He returned to Luther in 1974 and began teaching where he remained until his retirement in 2006. He spent much of that time alongside Dick Stark, who Gerry calls “my best friend – I would say my brother.” As a teacher, Gerry was very adept at helping students find their way. He taught history, geography, physical education, math and entrepreneurship. Gerry taught at the high school long enough to become a colleague to former students, such as Dave Hall, Mark Becker and Troy Casper.

Gerry was a Luther football coach for 25 years, a track and baseball coach for 20 years and a junior basketball coach for 20 years. During his career, Luther won provincial and city football championships in 1992 and 2005. Gerry also served as director of the Luther Invitational Tournament (LIT) for several decades. Under his guidance and leadership, LIT became a student-run event, a fundamental key to the event’s success, which has gone on to be included in its own right in the Regina Sports Hall of Fame.

Gerry was instrumental in establishing Luther College’s film studies program, a course not offered at the high school level at the time. An idea that grew from creating videos for LIT has since become a world-renowned IB film program. Gerry also developed and taught an entrepreneurship class that ran for several years, teaching students the fundamentals of business.

In 2011, Gerry was inducted into the Regina Sports Hall of Fame for his lifelong commitment to athletics. He is also on the Huskie Hall of Fame for football at the University of Saskatchewan. Over his lifetime, he was an all-star high school athlete, he played football for five seasons with the U of S, and he was an assistant coach with the Regina Rams; a team inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame during his time.

Gerry and his wife Jill have two children who are also alumni of Luther College, daughters Meghan Harris-Ngae (HS’98) and her husband Joe Ngae and Logan Harris (HS’02) and her husband Scott Rodonets (HS’03). Gerry now operates a service company for Federated Co-op and has continued to organize alumni and parent bicycle tours to Europe while enjoying time with his grandson Noah.