Hello Visitors and thank you checking out my page.
My name is William Harris and I am 28 years old from San Diego, California. I am originally from Carbondale, Illinois and I am a graduate of the University of Southern Indiana out of Evansville, Indiana. I received BA Degree in Public Relations and Advertising while being on a full-athletic scholarship for basketball. I left my university as the 5th all-time leader in scoring and 4th all-time leader in rebounding as well 1st all-time in free throws made. I hold the school record for having the best field goal percentage for a career in school history at 60 percent. I then went on to play basketball professionally in Greece, Australia and Asia for a few years before I decided to pursue a career in entertainment & motivational speaking. I have been fortunate enough to live around the world because of a little orange ball and I owe so much to the game of basketball, for it has provided my life with wonderful opportunities.
I feel that life has more to offer than sports and entertainment and that is why I feel it is my duty to speak to urban youth across America, most importantly the black community to help motivate our younger generation to be better than the last generation. Even though sports can be a tool to earn a free education, it is important that young minority kids understand there are scholarships for academics as well. It is vital for me to deliver a message that is relatable to these young kids and for them to look at me as an example of what they can become and not just another statistic or stereotype.
The message that I want to portray to young urban America is a simple one. One that is of passion, courage and pride. I come from humbling beginnings and know what it is like to have one parent in the household. I saw drugs, violence and abuse as a kid and it had a positive and negative effect on my life. With that being said, I allowed myself the luxury to not feel a guilt trip about life’s hard challenges and made something out myself, which is an upstanding adult who stays positive no matter what.
I had every reason in the world to be another black statistics. I was born to a 14 mother and father. My father was never present in my life and I witness all kinds of sadness as a child growing up. I could have followed my friends and family members down the wrong path of life and ended up dead or in jail, but I never chose to be a follower or let anyone pressure me into that lifestyle. So that is the message I want to convey to the youth in the urban communities, schools and college campuses. That they have a duty to our culture and history to make something out of themselves in a positive way and I believe I can help them get there by letting them hear my story and giving my personal and worldly advice. It is important for them to understand the man they see in the picture on top, is that same little kid below and I am far from perfect, but I have always been able to listen to the good advice of others.
Building a better tomorrow 
Wow, inspiring, thanks for sharing Will
warmly
nicole
Wow what an amazing story of your life! I actually found you on plenty of fish which led me here. I recently deleted my profile on pof as right now I’m really facing some difficult times in life and just need to focus on picking myself up and getting strong once again like I normally am. Reading your biography made me think of my 15 year old son. I became a mom at 17 and have been living on my own since then. We used to live in a small racist town up north in Minnesota and have now been living in Rochester, MN for 4 years now. The population here is over 100,000 and can you believe there is no big brother program here. In yesterdays newspaper on the front page it says, “Will city be a jobs hot spot? Metro areas with projected fastest job growth in next decade by percenteage, from study by Richard Florida and Rochester, MN was listed as #1. So as I was reading your biography where you say you want to pursue your career with motivational speaking and that there is a message you want to convey to the youth in urban communities and most importantly the black community to help motivate the younger generation to be better than the last generation it made me think of you and how I think you would succeed with all of that here in Rochester, MN. If I remember correctly you are moving to eden prairie, MN from San Diego, CA. Kind of crazy cause my dream is to go to San Diego. I love it there. I lived in Anaheim and Fullerton, CA from the ages of 8-12 and the people are very different there verses here. Minnesota can be very cold, clicky just not very friendly and inviting at least thats how it was in my childhood here. Now I moved my son here and he is not a follower, but has not really made many close friends to associate with on a daily basis nor does he have a positive male role model and it just breaks my heart cause he so deserves it. Overall is a pretty good respectable kid, has had a paper route for almost 4 years which he has recently decided not to renew his contract. He’s active in football, but when he was in I think 3rd grade he had fallen in school and was put in some special classes for a learning disabilty. From birth until at least 3 years old he was very advanced physically and mentally, but that is when I wasn’t working so much and was able to work with him a lot. Anyways sorry for rambling on. Just had to comment on my thoughts about your biograhy. Best of luck to you and your future, take care!
Very Nice!!!
lost for words.
Just goes to show that if you stay positive, you can overcome anything negative in your life. You always were a great person. I just happened to stumble across this page, and I am amazed at what a great man you have become. Your story is a great motivation to younger children, and hopefully they will feed off of your attitude. Not sure if you remember me at all. We had a class together at USI, and hung out a few times. Actually, I am in Carbondale quite often. Well… Cobden. I have family there, and have went to some SIU games recently. Makes me wonder if you are over this way ever. Would love to catch up with you! I don’t know how else to get ahold of you, but I want you to know that I am very proud to know you as a person, and hope everything is well with you. Take care!!
AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE YOUR LIFE IS SO FULL. YOU ARE BLESSED AND I HOPE THE WORLD FOR.
Keep writing. Thanx for the inspiration needed for young men of color and background.:-)