Neal and Estella Harris Papers

Neal Okleigh Harris, a 1929 graduate of Franklin and Marshall College, was born in Ringtown, Schuykill County, Pennsylvania in 1906. He was the son of Peter and Hattie (Manbeck) Harris. His brother Thorne Sanford Harris was a member of the Franklin and Marshall Class of 1923. After graduating from Franklin and Marshall, Neal played professional baseball, basketball and football from 1930-1932. In 1937 he married Estella Cooper of Columbia, Pa and soon became basketball coach at Albright College, where he served from 1938-1949. In 1947 he took a leave of absence to serve as the coach of the Egyptian Basketball Team in the 1948 Olympics in London. From 1950 until his retirement in 1976, Harris directed the military sports program of the United States Army in Europe. He died in 1982. ------ Estella Elizabeth Cooper was born in 1908 in Columbia Pa, the daughter of Truman E. and Anna (Burger) Cooper. A 1927 Columbia High School graduate, she received her A.B. in Social Studies Education from Wilson College in 1931. After graduation, she taught at Drumore Township High School, Columbia High School, and Muhlenberg Township High School. In the early 1950s she accompanied her husband to Germany and taught for 26 years in the Department of Defense's Dependent Schools. She died in 1990.