Jim Harris, the athletics director at Alabama-Huntsville since 1995, suffered a heart attack and passed away Saturday night.
Harris was 63.
“Jim Harris was the consummate athletic director in that he always put the welfare of the student athlete first,” said UAH president Dr. David Williams. “Jim created a lot of success for our students not only in their athletic pursuits, but for their success in the classroom as well. He has had a long list of accomplishments and built an excellent program for our university. Jim transformed the quality of our facilities tremendously in the time he served as the university’s athletic director.”
Under Harris’ administration, UAH won two Division II national championships and 12 GSC titles. The Chargers also won College Hockey America titles in 2007 and 2010 and played in the NCAA tournament each of those years, taking No. 1 Notre Dame to double overtime back in 2007.
Harris is survived by his wife, April, who serves as director of alumni relations at UAH, and a son, J.R.
On Monday, Alabama-Huntsville named Antoine Bell interim athletics director. Bell joined the UAH athletics staff in 1998 as sports information director and was later promoted to associate director of athletics for media relations.
