Legendary B-R softball coach Stan Harris officially cements legacy, receives honor to become enshrined into NYS Softball Hall

RICHBURG — It was an illustrious career that began in the late ‘70s. 1978 to be exact. A man by the name of Stan Harris would take over as head coach of the then-Richburg Bearcats. For nearly 20 years, he would remain there until 1995 when their neighbors down the road in the Bolivar Bulldogs came together as one.

And thus, the Bolivar-Richburg Wolverines were born.

From that first year all the way to 2008 with the Wolverines, you could say that the name Harris was synonymously tied to one specific adjective — winning. In a span of 13 seasons before he left coaching, his softball squads collected seven of his nine total Section V championships in his esteemed Bolivar-Richburg career. His last two when he came back for one last run as head coach with back-to-back championships in 2014 and 2015.

The rest was history.

For his efforts, the household name in local softball lore received a phone call this past summer. One that came on all of days — Father’s Day.

And what a Father’s Day gift it was.

For providing a head coaching career that spanned across nearly four decades before and after the school’s merger, the phone call was for Harris’ legacy to be enshrined forever, as he gets set next summer to become one of many to have their place amongst the softball legends as a Class of 2022 inductee into the New York State Softball Hall of Fame at the Mudville Softball Complex in Herkimer.

Harris will become the first head coach, and the third local name overall in Allegany County in nearly 10 years to have their career highlighted alongside the softball giants that have stepped onto the field. The last was another Bolivar-Richburg legend — one of, if not, the greatest Lady Wolverine to have ever suited up for action: Jordan Ingalls.

Ingalls earned her place in the State Softball Hall of Fame six years ago, as part of the Class of 2015. A day which Harris presented his former player into the very same hall he will soon join himself.

“I was amazed that it had happened,” he said. “I was asked by Jordan to present her into the Hall of Fame, and I thought to myself that this would be pretty unique for me to experience one day myself. Then they called me on Father’s Day this year, and they told me they were going to induct me. In my situation, I was a head coach, but there were so many people involved with the kids. The modified coaches, the JV coaches, the community itself. It’s nice to have my name on the plaque, but it’s really about the people that had all these kids earlier. I was very fortunate to have stepped into this position.”

In a career that spanned around 35 years, Harris racked up 518 wins, which stands as sixth all-time in New York State. Within those wins and Section V titles, some more hardware — multiple Far West Regional championships, a pair of New York State Finalist honors. But none standout more than the season that perhaps cemented the career of the longtime Bearcats and Wolverines mastermind — the State-championship winning season back in 2006, headlined by Ingalls.

Harris credits former coach and Bolivar-Richburg AD Tom Wight for helping make the program’s most magical moment become a reality.

“It was the most recognizable out of all the achievements,” Harris said. “The kids were a team, and they had played together for years. Tom Wight and Bruce Weber had put together a travel team, and they had kids that knew what the game of softball was all about. The girls clicked, and they were good. Jordan was dominate in the area, and that made it a whole lot easier for everyone. She was willing to give credit to her teammates behind her. The time we had together was enjoyable, and the guy that helped me the most was Tom. He’s a top notch guy, and he knew what was going on. There’s so many good people that understand the game, and know what’s happening. That made my job easier for me.”

Harris’ head coaching career officially came to a close after the 2015 season, when he finished having built nine Section V championship winning teams, capturing three straight from 1998 to 2000, and again from 2004 to 2006 before putting a bow on his first tenure in 2008. He returned a few years later to officially close out his second and final stint as acting coach with his two remaining titles, going back-to-back in 2014 and 2015.

Of those titles, Harris and the Lady Wolverines became State Finalists in ‘04 and ‘08, in between winning it all in ‘06. For that season, he was recognized as the New York State All-Class State Coach of the Year by the New York State Sportswriters and Coaches Organization for Girls Sports. He also earned the Paul Vienna Coach of the Year award in 1999 and 2006, as well as the Olean Times Herald Coach of the Year award in 2006 and 2014.

Next summer’s induction will be the second ceremony that Harris will have his name encapsulated for years to come, having already been inducted into the Allegany County Hall of Fame in 2003.

Fast forward to today, you can still see Harris back on the same softball field where he recorded much of his history coaching from the third base box. He has enlisted his aid as an assistant alongside current head coach Brooke Lovell, who won her first Section V championship this past Spring in her first season as head coach - the team’s first in six years, after defeating top-seeded Lyndonville, 9-7 in the Class C2 Finals back in June.

It was also the first title that he got to experience as a grandfather, watching his granddaughters — McKinlee and Madigan Harris, two rising Lady Wolverine superstars who now enter as juniors together, become Section V champions themselves in a sport that they have grown to know since they were little.

“Tom actually was the one that campaigned for me to come back and help with my granddaughters,” Harris said. “He’s done a remarkable job, and the girls will be juniors this year. I’ve been involved with them since their Little League days in Friendship. They do a lot of travel ball, but that whole group of kids that they play with, they played with Tom in modified. You can really tell the difference that there were two, three kids that went straight to JVs after the kids won the modified. It’s a pretty tight knit community, and it’s great to work with all these people. To me as a grandparent, it’s amazing to watch the kids grow up.”