Athletes take different paths to ultimately reach various stages of their career.
There are times when athletes know at a young age that they want to pursue one sport.
Former Stonewall Jackson High School lineman Dennis Harrah’s path wasn’t always football, or even sports for that matter.
However, his unlikely start finished with him being an NFL veteran lineman for the Los Angeles Rams.
“[Football] was not really a love,†Harrah said. “It was one of those things that I mainly got in the weight room and was a little stronger than everybody else. It was something to me to climb the ladder of life. I was not a sports fan. I knew very little about football. I started playing a little bit when I was in Little League. I didn’t play in junior high school.
“I was not a great athlete. If I was a great athlete, I wouldn’t have been playing offensive line.â€
Harrah didn’t start seeing a ton of success in football during the early stages of high school.
He said that he struggled his sophomore year before everything started connecting his junior season.
It wasn’t until people started telling him that he could make something of football.
Harrah was tabbed as an All-State center in 1970.
Harrah didn’t expect football, let along sports, to be an integral piece of his life.
“I thought about being a state trooper growing up,†Harrah said. “I thought about the thought of ‘What do I want to do?’ I loved the uniforms of the state troopers. I got stronger, stronger and stronger and that was from the repetition in the weight room. It was that ladder of life that was one of the things that I could do pretty good. I didn’t want to get out of ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä because I love West Virginia and always will.â€
Harrah, now 71, started garnering interest from a few college football programs, including Marshall University.
He used the extra motivation from schools being interested in him by continuing to work hard.
“It totally motivated me and keep working harder,†Harrah said. “Coach [Moe] Townson got tired of opening the [weightlifting] gym for me. He gave me a key to the gym because I was bugging him so much to get to the gym behind Stonewall Jackson. I was just on a mission.â€
Harrah got his offer from Thundering Herd assistant Red Dawson.
Harrah said that a few weeks after receiving the offer from Marshall the tragic 1970 plane crash involving the Thundering Herd football team occurred.
The West Virginia native remembers being with the team before the tragedy in which 75 people died.
“I was there a few weeks before with all the guys having dinner,†Harrah said. “I had dinner with all the coaches and players. It still affects me to this day.â€
The Miami Hurricanes weren’t heavy on Harrah during the recruiting process.
However, it wasn’t until Paul Talbott, one of Harrah’s high school coaches, reached out to Charlie Bailey, a Poca native.
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Bailey was an assistant coach on the Hurricanes staff at the time and got the call about Harrah.
The Hurricanes offered Harrah, leading the Mountain State native to commit to play in South Florida.
Harrah attended Miami from 1971-74. He was named an All-American selection in 1974. Harrah was a 259-pound senior that ran a 4.8-second 40-yard dash and bench-pressed 500 pounds.
The former Stonewall Jackson standout is a member of the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame.
“It was close to being torture,†Harrah said on his time with the Hurricanes. “It was the hardest thing. We would lose as much as 12 pounds in one practice and got one cup of water. We had three-a-days. I was able to make it through and not quit. There were so many guys that quit. Those days are gone now. They do not practice like that. They would probably put a coach in jail for what they did to us.â€
Miami offensive coordinator Carl Selmer said during Harrah’s playing days that he was “the best offensive lineman I’ve ever coached.â€
The Hurricanes played the Mountaineers twice while Harrah was there, in 1973 and 1974. The two split the games played with each team winning on its home field.
Harrah took those games against WVU personally due to the Mountaineers not recruiting him in high school.
“I wanted to prove that they possibly have made a mistake,†Harrah said. “I hold absolutely no ill feelings, but I did have something to prove. That was a big motivation to me. I could turn my switch into the most aggressive person on that field. That was one of the best things that I could do. I respect WVU because they have to make tough decisions, and they made that decision.
“I’m a West Virginia fan and always will be a West Virginia fan.â€
Following a stellar collegiate career, Harrah left for the NFL.
Harrah was chosen with the 11th overall pick in the first round of the 1975 NFL draft by the Los Angeles Rams.
The former Generals lineman started in 144 of the 168 NFL games he played with the Rams, including the Super Bowl in January 1980 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was also the team captain for six seasons.
The Rams won the NFC West division in Harrah’s first five seasons.
In 1983, the Rams drafted Eric Dickerson from SMU with the second overall pick in the first round. Harrah knew Dickerson would be special early on. The two spent four seasons together.
“Once he came in, I knew that if I could hold my block a half a second longer, he will make this so much easier on us,†Harrah said. “It’s sort of a selfish thing when you have a guy that has that kind of talent. It stimulates you to do your job even better than you have in the past. You need to give him every opportunity to run because he could run.â€
Harrah now lives in Paso Robles, California, but still loves his West Virginia roots.
He took pride in being from the Mountain State during his playing days.
“I was having to defend West Virginia, even with my teammates because it just is a stigma of West Virginia because I was defending my state and people,†Harrah said. “It was a daily and weekly occurrence. I’ve had a West Virginia accent my whole life. I’m over 70 years old and still hear about it to this day.
“I used to drive to West Virginia from California when I was with the Rams. I drove home to West Virginia because I wanted to come back, relax and be with friends. My love for West Virginia will never die.â€
