Ronnie Keith Harmon (born May 7, 1964) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) from 1986 to 1997.
Early life and college
Harmon was born in Queens, New York and played scholastically at Bayside High School in Queens, where he was a consensus all-city selection.[1]
He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes, twice earning first-team all-conference honors in the Big Ten. As a senior, he was selected as a second-team All-American by the Newspaper Enterprise Association.[2]
Harmon was better known for his receiving rather than his rushing capabilities, a reputation he earned after committing four fumbles, all of which resulted in turnovers, in a 45–28 loss for Iowa against UCLA in the 1986 Rose Bowl Game. It was a disappointing end to an otherwise superb season for Harmon, who rushed for 1,111 yards, caught 49 passes for 597 yards, and scored 10 touchdowns. Harmon finished his four seasons at Iowa with 4,028 yards from scrimmage, 126 receptions, 30 touchdowns, and 626 return yards on special teams.[3]
Ronnie's brother Kevin replaced him at running back after his graduation from Iowa.
Professional career
A 6 foot tall, 220-lb. running back, Harmon was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the first round (16th overall) of the 1986 NFL draft.[4]
Harmon played four seasons with the Buffalo Bills. In his final game with Buffalo, a 1989 AFC Divisional Playoff game at the Cleveland Browns, Harmon dropped a potential game-winning touchdown pass from Jim Kelly with :09 left in the fourth quarter.[5] According to Thurman Thomas, Harmon reportedly stated that his failure was Kelly's fault because the QB didn't throw the ball early enough. Probably not coincidentally, Harmon was not re-signed by Buffalo before the 1990 season.[6][7]
Harmon signed with the San Diego Chargers in March 1990.[8] He peaked in rushing yards in the 1991 season with 544 on 89 carries for 6.1 yards per carry for a touchdown while catching 59 passes for 555 yards while being named team MVP. When asked about his mood in 1992 as a player, he stated:
If I could run the ball, maybe I’d feel a little bit better about myself, but I don’t. A running back wants to run the ball. You can go to any running back and ask him what he’d rather do. He’ll tell you, ‘Run the ball.’ That’s why you’re a running back. I’m not a receiver. It’s just part of the job. Everybody categorizes me as a receiver. I’m stuck between a hard place and a rock. And a rock is a rock, so what can you do?[9]
He reached the Pro Bowl the following season, catching a career high 79 passes on 914 yards while rushing for 235 yards. A reliable route-runner, Harmon played six years with the team.[10] Harmon was on the roster for Super Bowl XXIX, where the Chargers lost 49–26 against the 49ers; he led his team in receiving with eight receptions for 68 yards. Ronnie's brothers Kevin and Derrick also played in the NFL.
Harmon had 2,774 rushing yards on 615 carries for an average of 4.5 yards per carry while catching 582 passes for 6,076 yards. He also returned 76 kicks for 1,415 yards for a total of 10,265 all-purpose yards.He is the only player with both 4.5 yards per carry on 600+ attempts and 10.4 yards per reception on 500+ receptions in NFL history.[11] He retired as the first running back with 10,000 all-purpose yards on less than 20 fumbles, a mark that has since been matched by several players.[12]
He had 51 receptions in the postseason, but he never scored a touchdown. His 51 postseason career receptions without a touchdown is the most by a player in NFL history.[13]
NFL career statistics
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Bold | Career high |
Regular season
| Year | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 1986 | BUF | 14 | 2 | 54 | 172 | 3.2 | 38 | 0 | 22 | 185 | 8.4 | 27 | 1 |
| 1987 | BUF | 12 | 10 | 116 | 485 | 4.2 | 21 | 2 | 56 | 477 | 8.5 | 42 | 2 |
| 1988 | BUF | 16 | 1 | 57 | 212 | 3.7 | 32 | 1 | 37 | 427 | 11.5 | 36 | 3 |
| 1989 | BUF | 15 | 2 | 17 | 99 | 5.8 | 24 | 0 | 29 | 363 | 12.5 | 42 | 4 |
| 1990 | SDG | 16 | 2 | 66 | 363 | 5.5 | 41 | 0 | 46 | 511 | 11.1 | 36 | 2 |
| 1991 | SDG | 16 | 0 | 89 | 544 | 6.1 | 33 | 1 | 59 | 555 | 9.4 | 36 | 1 |
| 1992 | SDG | 16 | 2 | 55 | 235 | 4.3 | 33 | 3 | 79 | 914 | 11.6 | 55 | 1 |
| 1993 | SDG | 16 | 1 | 46 | 216 | 4.7 | 19 | 0 | 73 | 671 | 9.2 | 37 | 2 |
| 1994 | SDG | 16 | 0 | 25 | 94 | 3.8 | 15 | 1 | 58 | 615 | 10.6 | 35 | 1 |
| 1995 | SDG | 16 | 1 | 51 | 187 | 3.7 | 48 | 1 | 63 | 673 | 10.7 | 44 | 5 |
| 1996 | HOU | 16 | 6 | 29 | 131 | 4.5 | 25 | 1 | 42 | 488 | 11.6 | 43 | 2 |
| 1997 | TEN | 11 | 0 | 8 | 30 | 3.8 | 14 | 0 | 16 | 189 | 11.8 | 27 | 0 |
| CHI | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3.0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4.0 | 6 | 0 | |
| 181 | 27 | 615 | 2,774 | 4.5 | 48 | 10 | 582 | 6,076 | 10.4 | 55 | 24 | ||
Playoffs
| Year | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 1988 | BUF | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4.0 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 76 | 9.5 | 17 | 0 |
| 1989 | BUF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 50 | 12.5 | 22 | 0 |
| 1992 | SDG | 2 | 0 | 8 | 36 | 4.5 | 10 | 0 | 13 | 94 | 7.2 | 18 | 0 |
| 1994 | SDG | 3 | 0 | 5 | 22 | 4.4 | 10 | 0 | 16 | 117 | 7.3 | 20 | 0 |
| 1995 | SDG | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | -1.0 | -1 | 0 | 10 | 133 | 13.3 | 24 | 0 |
| 9 | 0 | 16 | 65 | 4.1 | 10 | 0 | 51 | 470 | 9.2 | 24 | 0 | ||
References
- ↑ Harvin, Al. "FOOTBALL; Harmon Likes Seeing New York And Loves Playing in San Diego", The New York Times, November 23, 1991. Accessed May 19, 2008. "'I have to stay with my teammates out in New Jersey, but the first thing I'm going to do when I arrive is to head for Manhattan,' said Harmon, a consensus all-city football player at Bayside High School in Queens when the Commodores were a powerhouse in the late 1970s and early 1980s."
- ↑ "NEA 1985 All-America football team". Lead (SD) Daily Call. December 6, 1985. p. 7.
- ↑ "Ronnie Harmon is one of the greatest Hawkeyes of all time, but don't remind Iowa fans of that". allhawkeyes.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2020.
- ↑ "1986 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ↑ Ronnie Harmon Buffalo Bills Drops Pass Cleveland Browns: YouTube
- ↑ CROWE, JERRY (January 7, 1990). "Late Drive Is Stymied by Browns". The Los Angeles Times.
- ↑ "Bills end season on controversial note". UPI. January 7, 1990. Retrieved June 26, 2026.
- ↑ HOLBREICH, CURT (March 24, 1990). "Harmon, Three Kickers Among Six New Chargers". The Los Angeles Times.
- ↑ McKIBBEN, DAVE (December 18, 1992). "Harmon Dodges Accolades as Effectively as Tacklers". The Los Angeles Times.
- ↑ Cohen, Stephen (January 31, 2020). "Lightning in a bottle: The San Diego Chargers' Super Bowl team". The Athletic.
- ↑ "For combined seasons, in the regular season, requiring Rushing Att >= 500 and Yds/Rushing Att >= 4.5 and Receptions >= 500 and Yds/Reception >= 10, sorted by descending Yds/Rushing Att". Stathead. Retrieved June 26, 2026.
- ↑ "For combined seasons, played RB, in the regular season, requiring Fumbles <= 20 and All-Purpose Yds >= 10000, sorted by descending All-Purpose Yds". Stathead. Retrieved June 26, 2026.
- ↑ "For combined seasons, in the postseason, requiring Receiving TD = 0, sorted by descending Receptions". Stathead. Retrieved June 26, 2026.