Harmon, Tom

Tom Harmon, byname of Thomas Dudley Harmon, (born Sept. 28, 1919, Rensselaer, Ind., U.S.—died March 15, 1990, Los Angeles, Calif.), American football player, a Heisman Trophy winner, who was one of the greatest tailbacks in collegiate football history.

Harmon grew up in Gary, Ind., where he had a superior athletic career at Horace Mann High School. He entered the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1937 and gained national fame from 1938 to 1940, joining with quarterback Forest Evashevski to give the Michigan Wolverines remarkable victories. In three years Harmon carried 398 times for more than 2,100 yd and scored 237 points on 33 touchdowns, points after touchdown, and field goals. In his senior year (1940) he received both the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Trophy and was named the Associated Press’s Athlete of the Year.

Harmon was a U.S. Army Air Force pilot in World War II in the South Pacific and the China theatre, receiving the Silver Star and the Purple Heart (partly for severely burned legs). After the war he played professional football briefly for the Los Angeles Rams (1946–47). He then became a radio and television sportscaster, and his son, Mark, a successful actor. He is in the College Football Hall of Fame.