Of course he was. It was obvious. He lost his hawk status right then and there in most people's eyes.
Ronnie Harmon - Rose Bowl
- Thread starter PlyHawk
- Start date
Then your being naive. There's a ton of evidence. Dude was tied to an agent (who was linked to the mob), that had already paid Harmon 50K (allegedly).
He and Kevin rode around town on their scooters in leather suits with Mr T starter sets around their necks. Dude NEVER fumbled. Rose bowl game he has what five fumbles, one going in for a TD. He sets the Rose bowl record with 11 receptions, BUT drops a pass for a TD. You've heard the saying "where theres smoke there's fire". Well this was a damn inferno forest fire.
Odd that people trust the FBI.
Harmon (and Mitchell) was given 50k by Walters while at Iowa. Walters was known to threatened athletes violence. Of course Franzese denies any knowledge he was behind the threats.
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Check out the tackle attempt by #21 Mitchell at the 2;49 mark. Mitchell was also paid 50k by Walters
Learned a couple interesting things about the UCLA Iowa rose bowl on the Wikipedia page
The game had a 22.7 rating which makes it the 2nd most watched bowl game of all time! Only the 1987 Fiesta bowl between Penn St and Miami is higher. At least, this was true until 2007 and as far I know no game has broken a 20 rating since then.
UCLA shouldn't have even been Iowa's opponent. There was a 3 way tie atop the Pac 10 going into the final week of the year. UCLA was upset by 5-6 USC in its last game, opening the door for Washington...who was upset 21-20 later in the day by a terrible Washington St team. THAT loss opened the door for Arizona State -- with a win against Arizona, they would win the Pac 10. But they were upset, too. So there was still a 3 way tie for the PAC 10, and UCLA won the tiebreaker.
The game had a 22.7 rating which makes it the 2nd most watched bowl game of all time! Only the 1987 Fiesta bowl between Penn St and Miami is higher. At least, this was true until 2007 and as far I know no game has broken a 20 rating since then.
UCLA shouldn't have even been Iowa's opponent. There was a 3 way tie atop the Pac 10 going into the final week of the year. UCLA was upset by 5-6 USC in its last game, opening the door for Washington...who was upset 21-20 later in the day by a terrible Washington St team. THAT loss opened the door for Arizona State -- with a win against Arizona, they would win the Pac 10. But they were upset, too. So there was still a 3 way tie for the PAC 10, and UCLA won the tiebreaker.
What were they going to say, that they had a couple of players that were, "on the take", which it certainly appears they were? Given the fact that both Ronnie and his cousin Devon Mitchell, ( and probably brother Kevin), received 50K from agent Norby Walters, (while at Iowa), and Walters who had ties to the mob, and ended up in prison. Then the feds end up investagating the results of the game? Cmon......
Of course he threw the game for money - no doubt in my mind.
He had hands the size of a softball glove. He touched the ball 267 times in 1985 and I believe he fumbled once during the season. No fumbles during the game against the #1 defense in Michigan. No fumbles in a downpour against tOSU.
Four fumbles in one half and drops a perfectly thrown TD pass in the second half - impossible.
He's a disgrace to Iowa football and ruined the final game for perhaps the best team in Iowa history.
He had hands the size of a softball glove. He touched the ball 267 times in 1985 and I believe he fumbled once during the season. No fumbles during the game against the #1 defense in Michigan. No fumbles in a downpour against tOSU.
Four fumbles in one half and drops a perfectly thrown TD pass in the second half - impossible.
He's a disgrace to Iowa football and ruined the final game for perhaps the best team in Iowa history.
Absolutely. Its not impossible to think that Iowa would have been crowned with that elusive National champs crown had we stomped UCLA as well. I believe the Hawks were ranked 2 or 3rd pre game and they were in the conversation that week as a possible candidate. A big win in the granddaddy of all bowls in one of the most watched Rose bowls ever may have been the Hawkeyes ticket to their first title since 59...
He also dropped an easy one in the end zone at a critical point late in an NFL playoff game.
He was either crooked or couldn’t handle pressure situations.
I sort of think he was paid off. However, to give him the benefit of doubt, I heard that Fry took the team out really early - like 2 weeks- because traveling 2 time zones screws up midwest teams. Perhaps he was on a bender the night before and was hung over???? Oh, and the info above on pro career - a little math and he had 1 fumble every 30 carries - I think that is pretty bad for a pro.
I don't think it was intentional. Looked to me like he was trying to hard to make something happen and wasn't holding the ball as tight as normal. At this point we'll never know for sure so why dwell on it. You also have to remember how many points UCLA scored. Is anyone blaming the defense?
Yes and I didn’t even have money on the game. I can only imagine now that with the ability to gamble literally and figuratively at your fingertips tips for everyone, someone would have lost a bit too much and gotten a little nutty.
And was not re-signed by the Bills after he alligator-armed a would-be winning TD against Cleveland in the 89 playoffs.
Ronnie had 2 agents. The other one, Bloom, was killed in what cops labeled "a hit."
Thinking he might be hungover is not really giving the benefit of the doubt, is it? It's almost worse.
Exactly right, he thought he could carry the ball the way Walter Payton did.
Frankly, if we ask it of Ronnie, do we ask it of Terry Strauss in the 2009 game vs. O$U?
Much like there being 37 members of Spinal Tap, there are 37 different spellings of the name.
Ok...I think we are onto something here. Conspiracy...it's rampant in the country now so it makes sense to bring this up.
Does anyone think that maybe Ronnie had money in college because he just took money from his agent...like several hundred other players did in those times. They had big contracts coming...and agents were notorious for slipping players money to earn the right to represent them. Ronnie didn't have to throw the game to have money is the point...and I don't think he would.
Did you see the point shaving documentary on the Arizona State basketball players? They got paid and were throwing money all over, and everyone involved was telling their buddy and it blew up in their faces. In the end...half the damn campus was betting on ASU to lose. Do you think Ronnie, his brother, and others would have been this disciplined, this successful at keeping it in the tight group it had to be? Listen...the NFL investigates this stuff very, very thoroughly. It didn't impact his draft status IMO...that should tell you something.
Based on your logic...the fumbles, etc...Nate Stanley absolutely threw the Penn State game in 2019. You can't play that bad unless you have money on the outcome. That whole thing on the goal line, where he didn't call timeout and threw the ball directly to the Penn State player was proof. And the overthrow of Hockenson on the 3rd and one where he is thirty yards in the open...proof that Nate threw this game.
Let it go for christ's sake.
Does anyone think that maybe Ronnie had money in college because he just took money from his agent...like several hundred other players did in those times. They had big contracts coming...and agents were notorious for slipping players money to earn the right to represent them. Ronnie didn't have to throw the game to have money is the point...and I don't think he would.
Did you see the point shaving documentary on the Arizona State basketball players? They got paid and were throwing money all over, and everyone involved was telling their buddy and it blew up in their faces. In the end...half the damn campus was betting on ASU to lose. Do you think Ronnie, his brother, and others would have been this disciplined, this successful at keeping it in the tight group it had to be? Listen...the NFL investigates this stuff very, very thoroughly. It didn't impact his draft status IMO...that should tell you something.
Based on your logic...the fumbles, etc...Nate Stanley absolutely threw the Penn State game in 2019. You can't play that bad unless you have money on the outcome. That whole thing on the goal line, where he didn't call timeout and threw the ball directly to the Penn State player was proof. And the overthrow of Hockenson on the 3rd and one where he is thirty yards in the open...proof that Nate threw this game.
Let it go for christ's sake.
Was obvious, and the agent circumstances made it more obvious. I imagine RH was under serious threat. No need to re-open a discussion that is pretty well settled. The passage of time doesn't change anything.
Years ago, I spoke to one of his teammates. He believed Ronnie through it as did many on the team
And you're one of those.
Great post. There was a lot going on in Hawkeye sports back then and lots of places. The Harmon brothers weren’t the only ones running around campus with bling. Lots of bball players as well. Kind of the wild Wild West. Lots of fun actually.
Every player on the team including I had one. LOL.
No, Ronnie also set the Rose Bowl record for receptions at 11 that day. broke a receiving record and threw the game? Damn he's superman good.
Ronnie and Devon Mitchell ran with a pack of gamblers and agents. The FBI even got involved. Harmon and Mitchell had to repay their scholarships.
Some of those fumbles were literally just dropping the ball on the ground (also the dropped TD pass that was in his basket).
All those TOs and the dropped TD pass were in UCLA's field I believe. All of that on one day by maybe the guy with the best ball security and catches/drops in Iowa history. If something looks dishonest it probably is.
Some of those fumbles were literally just dropping the ball on the ground (also the dropped TD pass that was in his basket).
All those TOs and the dropped TD pass were in UCLA's field I believe. All of that on one day by maybe the guy with the best ball security and catches/drops in Iowa history. If something looks dishonest it probably is.
Iowa was on about a four year NCAA investigation and came out clean. No one connected with the university did anything wrong.
But....
Shouldn't we hold the coaches to a higher standard? It's not a rule now but the coaches and staff should be placed in inquiry notice. Like Pete Caroll, income millions and Reggie Bush, income zero, driving the same fully loaded Escalade. Shouldn't the staff be expected to notice that and make some further inquiries?
Ronnie sported a lot of gold, thousands of dollars in gold jewelry. Where'd a guy with no known source of income get the cash to pay for all that jewelry. Although NIL makes that kind of integrity moot.
people who trust the government also trust the main stream media
No, but if they believed he was on the take, then Don Patterson doesn’t hire him as an assistant and Kirk doesn’t make him an honorary captain.
You know Hayden and pretty much everyone at the University knew what was going on. Ask @FBletterman. He pretty much just told us.
This, I remember UCLA players saying that. Also, I always thought he had too much pride (or egotism) in his ability to want to be remembered as a fumbler who lost that game.
He literally threw the ball on the ground like it was a hot potato.
I remember it vividly, that to me , was almost more proof than the fumbles.
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