varsity.roanoke.com

STUART -- Willard Harris makes a living as a long-haul truck driver.

A few times, he's taken his son, John, on a cross-country jaunt to California and back.

The kid has been going coast to coast ever since.

John Harris has gone the distance for the last three years at Patrick County High School, rushing for 3,958 yards and scoring 42 touchdowns. The explosive 5-foot-10, 180-pound senior has gained at least 1,200 yards in each of his varsity seasons and has a realistic chance of finishing his career ranked among the top five on Timesland's all-time rushing list.

A star player at Laurel Park in the mid-1980s, Willard Harris feels pride when he watches his son tuck a football and leave defenders grabbing at air.

"He enjoys it so much," the elder Harris said. "I just want him to be happy."

And when John Harris hits the end zone again, his father can't help but think of something else: "I was pretty good, but if I had half the ability he has I probably wouldn't be driving trucks now."

While his father has logged between 50,000 and 100,000 miles on interstate highways for the better part of the last two decades, John Harris has another destination in mind.

Football is on the verge of taking him to a college scholarship, with the likely stopping point at the Division I-AA level. VMI already has offered Harris, and Patrick County coach Brad Dalton is hopeful that others will follow, for the sake of his senior running back and the program.

"You can't measure things like that," Dalton said. "We haven't had a scholarship player since '98."

Patrick County, which has never won a football playoff game, has nevertheless produced some noteworthy athletic alumni since the school was formed in 1970.

Tim Goad played for nine seasons in the NFL as a defensive lineman and had a career in NASCAR as a pit crew member. Brad Clontz pitched in the major leagues for six years and earned a World Series ring in 1995 with the Atlanta Braves. NASCAR drivers Jon Wood and Kevin Wood -- from the famed Wood Brothers racing family -- are Patrick County graduates.

More rare than a pro athlete in these parts is a youngster with Harris' speed. Roanoke's Edge Sports Performance Center listed Harris with the fastest 40-yard dash time in a SPARQ (speed, power, agility, reaction, quickness) testing combine in March at 4.28 seconds.

"You don't get a whole lot of kids with speed like that," Dalton said. "It's nothing we've taught him. It's God-given ability. He's got an extra burst a lot of kids don't have.

"When he came into the eighth-grade year, he could run better than anybody we had at that time."

However, Harris remembers a time when he wasn't so swift.

"I used to be outran by everybody when I was little," he said. "I didn't think I was going to be fast at all. Every time I'd run against people in my family or in the neighborhood, I'd get beat all the time."

Harris said that changed one day against another opponent.

"Actually, I was playing with this dog and I stepped on his foot and I guess he didn't like it. It put the fear into me. He came after me with his teeth so I took off running. He didn't catch me."

Bulldogs and Bengals, Warriors and Trojans in the Piedmont District have been chasing Harris ever since. He averaged 12.1 yards per carry as a 155-pound freshman.

On the summer days he's not on the road, the elder Harris sees his son rise early and make the nearly half-hour drive from the family home in Woolwine for an 8 a.m. workout in the high school weight room.

Harris' work is evident in the biceps that stick out from the cut-off shirt he wore before a Patrick County practice. A large tattoo -- a pair of praying hands -- is on his right biceps.

"My dad was the one who told me I could get it," Harris said. "My mom [Michelle] didn't know too much about it. She didn't talk to me for a while. It didn't go over too good. She didn't like it. She kind of got over it."

Pumping the iron is paying off. While his yards-per-carry average has dropped, his durability has increased. Harris had 197 carries in 2007 against a schedule that included Bassett, William Byrd and Floyd County and a playoff game against Richlands.

Harris said he has been sensitive to the knock that he only runs to daylight on the outside and doesn't get the tough yards up the middle.

"I'm pretty underrated at running up the middle," he said. "A long time ago someone said [in a newspaper] that 'He's an east-and-west runner. He's not too good at running north and south.' I kind of shut that up right there. I can do it. I just haven't done it that much."

That's as close to self-promotion as it gets for Harris. Senior wide receiver Mikhail Nowlin, who lives on the west side of the county in Patrick Springs, admires his good friend.

"He's laid back, but he's serious when he gets on the field," Nowlin said. "He takes it to the heart when it comes to football. He's cool."

Very cool on one occasion.

"One time I was staying at his house and he was in the shower, so I got an ice-cold bucket of water and dumped it on him," Nowlin said. "He hasn't gotten me back yet. I think he's just waiting when I'm not paying attention."

All eyes are on Harris when he touches the ball for Patrick County, which made the playoffs last year for just the third time in 38 seasons.

Patrick County has six home games this fall. Harris hopes his father won't be on a long road trip for any of those Fridays.

"He's at home here and there, mainly weekends," he said. "He's gone all week. Sometimes three weeks at a time. I've learned how to deal with it. I see my mom almost every day. That kind of makes up for it.

"I always know they're there, because they're yelling at the top of their lungs."