Harrison, Edwin Stafford

Edwin Stafford Harrison was born in Houston in1912. He graduated from Yates High School. At Prairie View A&M University he lettered in track and tennis, and was voted All-American in football in 1933. He subsequently played semi-professional football in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His sojourn in the Caribbean marked his last absence from Houston. Until his death forty-five years later in 1979, his interests and work in Houston involved him in an impressive range of activities. Mr. Harrison found strength in diversity and was a man who thrived on doing many things at the same time. From 1936 to 1941 he was a labor organizer for the CIO and an officer for its local division at Hughes Tool Company. He founded the Houston Colored Coaches and Officials Association in 1936 and served as its president. He was also a leader of the Third Ward Civic Club and an active member of the Harris County Democratic Party, which named him to its Executive Committee in 1977. Participation in these and many other organizations, such as the NAACP, Hester House and the Houston Negro Chamber of Commerce only supplemented Mr. Harrison's primary interests: the Boy Scouts of America and United Methodist Church.