This was how the story went, the one about Wayne Harris creating a stir among the Calgary Stampeders before he even set foot on the field at McMahon Stadium.

News had reached the team's locker room that a stud linebacker from the University of Arkansas was headed to Calgary. Receiver Bill McKenna was talking to a Stampeder teammate about this guy Wayne Harris when a smallish rookie walked past them. "He must be a defensive back," Mr. McKenna said before being told that was the stud linebacker from Arkansas.

An hour or so later in practice, Mr. McKenna watched a one-on-two drill where Mr. Harris shed the offensive lineman trying to block him and then tackled the ball carrier for a loss. Suitably impressed, Mr. McKenna said, "He's a keeper."

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That tale, and many others, made the rounds Friday after the Stampeders announced Mr. Harris had died at the age of 77, after suffering from vascular dementia.

What most Canadian Football League followers know about the 6-foot, 190-pound Mr. Harris has to do with numbers and awards. He was a West Division all-star 11 times and a CFL all-star eight times. He was the MVP of the 1971 Grey Cup won by the Stampeders.

Those who knew him better spoke of the man behind the accolades, whose professionalism was unwavering. He never trash-talked or raised his voice in a game, never lost control and never took a cheap shot at an opposing player. He also revolutionized the middle linebacker position.

Before Mr. Harris, the men in the middle were an extension of the defensive line. They relied on size and blunt force to do the job; Mr. Harris was all about the quick strike and being able to run from one sideline to the other to tackle the ball carrier – for a loss.

"I've seen game film of my dad in action," said Wayne Harris Jr., the recently named head coach of the University of Calgary football Dinos. "What was impressive to me was how he was always around the football. He had a nose for it."

Born May 4, 1938, on an acreage near El Dorado, Ark., Carrol Wayne Harris grew up in a small house built on wooden stilts with a tin roof that attracted the heat and held it. He was the eldest of five children; their father, Melvin, had left home at 12 to work as a labourer during the Depression, taking whatever job he could. Carrol Wayne worked hard while he was at school and competed in wrestling and basketball, but it was his high school football heroics that landed him a spot at the University of Arkansas.

Mr. Harris proved to be a formidable talent. He played two ways, linebacker on defence, centre on offence, and was named an All-American at both positions. His hits were so loud that the Arkansas fans nicknamed him Thumper, and in 1961 he was offered a contract by the AFL's Boston Patriots and the CFL's Stampeders. Wanting a smaller city to live in, he chose Calgary – then got right to work dismantling offences in a most respectful manner.

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No one experienced that dismantling more than George Reed, the Saskatchewan Roughriders' running back who retired as the CFL's all-time leading rusher. What Mr. Harris and Mr. Reed had was a one-on-one battle that usually decided which team would win. "I used to say [to the 'Riders equipment staff], 'Put two of everything on me. I'm going to war with Harris,'" Mr. Reed recalled from Regina, where he lives. "Sometimes he would win, sometimes I would win and sometimes it was a draw. But we played with respect for one another. We played the game hard and, after it was over, we'd always meet on the field to shake hands and say, 'See you next time.'"

Mr. Harris was such an earnest competitor he impressed his teammates. "He was a gentleman on field, as much of a gentleman you could be as a football player," said Craig Koinzan, a former Stampeders defensive lineman. "He wasn't very emotional. He was in control in the huddle; in control on the field. … You could always count on him to be there. I was his backup at middle linebacker, but I never played a down because he never missed a play."

After winning the 1971 Grey Cup over the Toronto Argonauts, Mr. Harris tried to play the following season until doctors took one look at an X-ray showing the damage in his neck and recommended he never again play football. Mr. Harris got into the oil business and worked for CanTex Drilling. Even in retirement, his football skills influenced others.

Dan Kepley wasn't all that big when he reported to the Edmonton Eskimos in 1975 and asked the coaches to name the best middle linebacker they'd seen. Mr. Kepley was given Stampeder game film and told to watch No. 55. From then on, whenever Mr. Kepley spoke of his one favourite Stampeder, he called him Mr. Harris.

The Stampeders honoured Mr. Harris by retiring his number, and in 1976 he was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Canada Post added to the Harris legacy by placing his image on a stamp commemorating the 100th Grey Cup game. That news conference was held three years ago and it marked the last time Mr. Harris made a public appearance.

"He put on a bit of a front for that," Mr. Harris Jr. admitted. "It took him a long time to sign all the stamps and posters – two months to sign 200 stamps."

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From then on, Mr. Harris's decline was evident and unstoppable. Was it football and all those hits to the head that damaged Thumper's brain? His son said it could be as simple as genetics – his paternal grandmother had had dementia, too.

What Mr. Harris Jr. knows for sure is that playing university football in the same city, at the same position, in the same stadium as his father was never a burden. It even stayed that way after his university career ended and he was drafted by the Stampeders. Instead of being irked by the comparisons, Mr. Harris Jr. found inspiration from what his father had done.

"I didn't really have to think about it. I was so proud of my dad's accomplishments," he said. "Dad never put pressure on me."

Mr. Harris may not have understood that his son had been named a university head coach. There were good days at the Bethany Care facility when his eyes were open and the family would notice a trace of a smile on his face. On the bad days, there was no recognition, no communication.

In the morning on the day his father died, Mr. Harris Jr. said in an interview how hard the past few months had been on his dad and the rest of his family.

"He has always been a quiet man, a private man. But he got so frustrated [with his condition] he was moved to the Rockyview Hospital for a few months," said Mr. Harris Jr. "They couldn't handle him there. He's still strong."

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Hours later, his father died and Mr. Harris Jr. sent an e-mail that noted "how much dad loved the city of Calgary, playing for the Stampeders and working in the oil industry."

Turned out he was more than just a keeper.

Mr. Harris leaves his wife, Anne; children, Wynelle Clark, Heather-Anne Twordik, Cooper Harris and Wayne Harris Jr.; five grandchildren; and extended family.

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