Cavalier Corner is the publication just for UVa sports fans!
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AUGUST 2018 17 Any Virginia football fan that remembers Chris Harrison wouldn't be surprised he has found success after his gridiron career. Harrison joined the Cavaliers in 1990 and, like most offensive linemen, redshirted. He worked his way into the rotation the next two seasons before suffering a gruesome broken leg in practice, which forced him to miss the entire 1993 campaign. "Remember [former Redskins quarterback] Joe Theismann?" he once told VirginiaSports.com. "It was the exact same injury." The Washington, D.C., native returned to start every game at right tackle in 1994 and won the ACC's Brian Piccolo Award, annually given to the league's most courageous football player. He was just the second UVA player to earn the honor and is still just one of five to do so in school history. Despite being awarded a rare sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA, he was ready to get on with his life after the 9-3 cam- paign was capped by an Independence Bowl victory. He had spent five years on Grounds and knew that due to his injury he likely wouldn't be an NFL Draft pick. After earning his degree from the McIntire School of Commerce, he entertained job offers and law schools had accepted him. However, head coach George Welsh convinced Harrison he had a bright future on the football field as well. It turns out the old coach knew what he was talking about. Harrison came back to earn second-team All-ACC honors in 1995 and also a master's degree from the Curry School of Edu- cation. More importantly, the team went 9-4 and shared the ACC championship, thanks to a 33-28 victory over then-No. 2 Florida State that Harrison ranks as one of the unforgettable memories from his college career, along with walking the lawn twice. "You know Virginia, they go big with whatever they do, so if they're going to do something, they're going to do it the right way," he said of Final Exercises. Although Harrison was right about not being drafted, he was incorrect about not having an NFL career. He made the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent and spent four seasons in the league. That was just the beginning of a successful post-college career. For nearly two decades, he has owned C.A. Harrison Com- panies, which focuses on commercial and resident real-estate development and empowering long-term city residents with the ability to live in affordable rental housing in gentrifying metropolitan areas. "We like to work in transitioning areas, we like to deal with historic sites," he said. "Growing up in Washington, D.C., and starting my development career there, everything is historic so I got a great tutorial on how to put back together a historic piece of property." The 46-year-old is also still intimately involved with football, serving on the board of directors for the Military Bowl, which Virginia played in this past December. After playing a key role in one of UVA's most successful peri- ods on the football field, Harrison hopes the first bowl appear- ance under Bronco Mendenhall can be seen as the Cavaliers' initial step towards regaining gridiron prominence. "I look forward to helping with that, and I hope the alumni who read this will also do the same," he said. Harrison earned second-team All-ACC honors in 1995, helping the Cava- liers to the ACC championship, and is now a successful businessman. PHOTO COURTESY UVA CONTINUED SUCCESS: CHRIS HARRISON, FOOTBALL Harrison (right), seen here with fellow former Cavalier Jamie Sharper, serves on the board of directors for the Military Bowl. When the Cava- liers played in the event this past December, he and Sharper visited one of their practices. PHOTO COURTESY CHRIS HARRISON OTAs [organized team activities]. Basically, it's been a non-stop hectic year and I haven't really been able to sit back and just reflect on anything. It's been non-stop. It's wild." Kiser was a mainstay in the middle of UVA's defense, where he finished as one of the school's top five tacklers (411) after leading the ACC in tackles for three straight seasons, becoming only the second player to ever achieve that. The transition to the NFL is one that he believes his career at Virginia prepared him for as much as it possibly could. "I don't want to say that being a student- athlete is like a full-time job or anything like that because at the end the day you're play- ing ball and going school, so it's a lot of fun and you don't have crazy responsibilities like family and stuff like that to balance," he explained. "But it's really tough to be successful as a student-athlete. You're wak- ing up really early, you work out so hard, you're going to class like every other kid, and you've just got a lot on your plate. "Just being able to juggle that for five years and get good at that, that's hard. Now, it's really just football, which is a completely different kind of deal. So now I'm just wor- ried about working out, eating healthy, being healthy and playing ball, so I guess I've got