Ronnie Harmon - Rose Bowl
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Also, one of the 4 he fumbled right in front of me. I was on the sidelines and it was a perfectly timed hit that stripped the ball.
I don't know if he did or didn't, but if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck.........
Quack, quack, I think Ronnie Harmon was on the take. Sorry, I just think he was.
I remember that game well. Before the ball hit the ground I thought...he did it again. At least, as a Browns fan, I came out on top in one of the games.
Hell, senior year Ronnie had a new Bronco and a gold chain the size of a thick rope around his neck. Ronnie was one of the reasons that the rule regarding contact with agents was changed.
SPORTS AGENT CASE PUTS IOWA ON TRIAL, TOO
Former University of Iowa running back Ronnie Harmon testified Tuesday that he played football his senior year even though he was on academic probation, and that he believed he was in violation of …
www.chicagotribune.com
I've got an email from ronnie, Jan 2, 1986 that he sent to me. He admitted the whole thang
He and I were also texting prior to the game and he texted me to lay money on the Bruins. I immediately posted the texts to instagram, but the FBI took the post down. I think the FBI was behind the whole thing. LOL...if it works for Trump...why can't Ronnie use it.
Well he was a damn good player and a focal part of the Offense so.................
None of the walk-ons who didn't see the field were accused of fixing the Rose Bowl.
Yes he was. Do you remember all the talk about if the Iowa Fanbase would boo him off the field? I do. There is a reason that Ronnie Harmon would be the only Honorary Captain ever where this question would have to be asked.
I think the general consensus was you don't boo a Hawkeye great, just don't do anything, which of course is odd in and of itself.
Everyone knows what went on pretty much every significant practice field in the US. In the end, no one cared. I was shocked the NCAA did anything to Penn St. Its hard to come down on the unimportant schools
A couple of memories relating to that Rose Bowl that always come to mind for me when this game comes up.
- I travelled to Rome for work before the 1985/1986 holiday season. When I returned I wrote a lengthy report documenting the trip that went out day or two before the company shut down for the holidays. Those pre holiday trip reports and memos were always a bit different as everyone was starting to check out anyway. At the end of the report I attached a full page image of the Roman Coliseum with the label ROSE BOWL 1986. The anticipation for that game consumed the media in the weeks leading up to the game. People kind of got a kick out of that in an otherwise serious business document. Note that although I'm a Cyclone fan I attended all the Iowa home games during those years.
- I taped the game on my VCR. That tape was still in my VCR player when the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster happened. My company had various contracts on the Space Shuttle program, so the disaster struck a little closer to home for us. I recorded the explosion on tape not really thinking about it being at the end of the Rose Bowl tape. At some point in the future when I decided not to tape over it, I labeled it The Disaster Tape. I probably still have that tape somewhere and may even have an old VCR boxed up and stored in the basement that can play it.
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Omg as I respect your opinion and all but you would have to be blind not to see that he definitely tanked the game - not many backs or any that I can recall have dropped the rock that many times … who knows and will probably never know the real truth but someone will be itching their balls the rest of their lives (great post whomever said that)
I used to think so, but in retrospect, I believe Ronnie did not intentionally throw the 1982 Rose Bowl. His teammates and coaches have said he was inconsolable in the locker room after the loss, sobbing uncontrollably. Unless he's an experienced actor with Academy award level chops, that's not something you can just turn on and off, at least not convincingly.
Walters and his mob backers were pressuring, enticing and physically threatening star college athletes to sign agent representation contracts with them so that they could profit off those fees over a long period of time, they did the same with several entertainers including the Jackson Five, Dionne Warwick etc. At no time was point shaving and fixing games by these targeted athletes proven or shown to be a part of the racketeering & fraud scheme that was perpetrated. But some of you want to believe it, so in your minds it's now the gospel truth.
Would you rather enjoy the long term financial gains of representing a star athlete over their entire career or would you rather risk a one time financial windfall by fixing a game where the outcome of that game is still very much in question. There's 22 dudes on the football field every play, so even if one of them is trying to fix the outcome or the final point differential, there's a ton of other factors you can't control either. I know which scheme is more certain to pay off in the end over the long term. The answer is obvious and the conspiracy theory that the game was thrown is the least likely scenario. You should start using your damn brain if you believe the Rose Bowl was thrown by Ronnie Harmon, or just quit trolling Iowa message boards for cheap entertainment.
Walters and his mob backers were pressuring, enticing and physically threatening star college athletes to sign agent representation contracts with them so that they could profit off those fees over a long period of time, they did the same with several entertainers including the Jackson Five, Dionne Warwick etc. At no time was point shaving and fixing games by these targeted athletes proven or shown to be a part of the racketeering & fraud scheme that was perpetrated. But some of you want to believe it, so in your minds it's now the gospel truth.
Would you rather enjoy the long term financial gains of representing a star athlete over their entire career or would you rather risk a one time financial windfall by fixing a game where the outcome of that game is still very much in question. There's 22 dudes on the football field every play, so even if one of them is trying to fix the outcome or the final point differential, there's a ton of other factors you can't control either. I know which scheme is more certain to pay off in the end over the long term. The answer is obvious and the conspiracy theory that the game was thrown is the least likely scenario. You should start using your damn brain if you believe the Rose Bowl was thrown by Ronnie Harmon, or just quit trolling Iowa message boards for cheap entertainment.
Just another possibility for the locker room 'observations' may be guilt that is described as a self-conscious emotion that involves negative evaluations of the self, feelings of distress, and feelings of failure. Some signs of coping with guilt include: Anxiety. Crying.
Be careful, the mere mention of 'VCR Tape' will get the faithful of some B1G program out west all giddy and ready to fap to stories of the 90's.
I don't care if he did or didn't, Iowa lost and you can't go back and change anything.
It's the lure of easy money. I hear it has a very strong appeal.
Don't forget those guys ran with a crowd that certainly included gamblers. How would $2 million have sounded when we were 22? Not abstractly but $2 megs for blowing a football game. Never going back to the school leaving teammates and coaches behind. The NFL is a dream that could die with a preseason injury as a rookie. Two million dollars in the hand looks very doable.
I have re-watched the 1986 Rose Bowl game 2 or 3 times. I stopped and re-played the plays where he fumbled several times. I could not find any evidence he intentionally fumbled. Don't know why he was prone to fumble on that day, but sometimes things just happen. Harmon was risky with the football throughout his career, however he had the good fortune of not fumbling very often. I personally believe it was just a "perfect storm" on 1-1-86 for Ronnie Harmon.
I was working in the security industry back in the day and had multiple projects in and around Iowa athletics. The Harmon stuff was out there for everybody to see. Those boys didn't really try and hide it. My understanding from my well-placed friends was that Derrick was the conduit. There was definitely some concern about the Rose Bowl but there was never any direct evidence that Ronnie threw the game (and it was thoroughly investigated by multiple agencies). However, Ronnie was on a short leash as the rumors followed him and after the dropped end zone pass(which would have won the game) in the playoff game for Buffalo he was Plan B free agent and Buffalo didn't give him a retention offer. Allegedly they/Buffalo didn't have any direct evidence either but they weren't taking any chances (& they also had some guy named Thurmon Thomas). Fact: Ronnie took money from bad people. No facts to support: Ronnie threw any football game.
The fumbles and that connection to Walters/Bloom/(mafia) is such a bad coincidence. If there was no relationship then there would not be these questions. The fact that Bloom was known to threaten athletes and Harmon was paid 50k which was a lot in 1985. Maybe he was not playing for money but to avoid being hurt.
Example of a threat:
Simmons testified he received a phone call from Bloom in November 1986 in which Bloom said he had heard Gay might terminate their agreement. Simmons said Bloom told him ''that if he leaves, we've got people who can come down from Las Vegas and make sure that Everett Gay doesn't play football again.''
2 Players Testify About Threats (Published 1989)
There is a reason the Bills let him go him despite him being a perfect fit for the K-Gun. Heck, if he'd stayed with the Bills, he'd probably be in the HOF instead of Thurman Thomas. The K-Gun was basically tailor made for Harmon. IIRC, Jim Kelly has alluded before to his being suspicious of Harmon's performance in that game against the Browns.
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Its amazing that it took all the way until the last game of his senior season before an opposing coaching staff noticed this and was able to take advantage.
Sorry, but come on. That's not the sort of thing that gets figured out on film by the coaching staff of the last game of the season. That's like week 1, second quarter stuff for an opposing coaching staff. To think that all of the Big 10's defensive coordinators, and Iowa's own staff who saw him day-in and day-out, didn't notice it, but UCLA figured out this most basic fundamental flaw that any 5th grade coach could identify defies logic.
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Thats a ridiculous argument and you know it. Stanley missing guys who were open (something he did all year by the way), is hardly the same thing as a guy who NEVER fumbled having 4 fumbles (at least one of which he was going in for the TD), and dropping a TD in the endzone standing all by himself. The fact that he had an agent and the FACT that he took money is not the issue either. The issue is that his agent Norby Walters and his partner Bloom, (who suspisiously ended up dead) had KNOWN ties to the mob and illegal gambling. You know back when all this betting on games was not legal. Walters of course went to prison, but you think there was no game fixing going on with the guys with crooked noses right......Ok...
No conspiracies and no coincidences...The fumbles and that connection to Walters/Bloom/(mafia) is such a bad coincidence. If there was no relationship then there would not be these questions. The fact that Bloom was known to threaten athletes and Harmon was paid 50k which was a lot in 1985. Maybe he was not playing for money but to avoid being hurt.
Example of a threat:
Simmons testified he received a phone call from Bloom in November 1986 in which Bloom said he had heard Gay might terminate their agreement. Simmons said Bloom told him ''that if he leaves, we've got people who can come down from Las Vegas and make sure that Everett Gay doesn't play football again.''
2 Players Testify About Threats (Published 1989)
www.nytimes.com
I was at the game, as anyone not certain on this. After hearing his side, from him on the HF podcast - June 2020, I trust him. What else can ya do. But seriously, hearing him talk about it changed it around for me. If it doesn't for people on a message board, IDFC.
I'm sorry it went down like this, but someone had to lose.
Here is the way I look at it.
First, I don't buy the argument that UCLA had some magic formula for producing fumbles. On his first fumble on the UCLA 5 yard line he just whiffed on the ball - no one touched him.
Secondly, NO ONE fumbles 4 times in a half. I mean, how many times in history has that happened? How many times has a TEAM fumbled 4 times in one half?
Third - the TD pass he dropped was perfectly thrown and hit him right in his enormous hands. Bad receivers catch that ball 90% of the time, and RH was a superior receiver.
Maybe he was hungover or still impaired. Maybe he was sick or injured, despite no one ever claiming that he was. Maybe he didn't make money, but was threatened to tank the game or else.
There is quite simply only one explanation that is plausible to me - he threw the game. No player can go from almost never fumbling to fumbling 4 times in a half. It's just not believable.
First, I don't buy the argument that UCLA had some magic formula for producing fumbles. On his first fumble on the UCLA 5 yard line he just whiffed on the ball - no one touched him.
Secondly, NO ONE fumbles 4 times in a half. I mean, how many times in history has that happened? How many times has a TEAM fumbled 4 times in one half?
Third - the TD pass he dropped was perfectly thrown and hit him right in his enormous hands. Bad receivers catch that ball 90% of the time, and RH was a superior receiver.
Maybe he was hungover or still impaired. Maybe he was sick or injured, despite no one ever claiming that he was. Maybe he didn't make money, but was threatened to tank the game or else.
There is quite simply only one explanation that is plausible to me - he threw the game. No player can go from almost never fumbling to fumbling 4 times in a half. It's just not believable.
Still find it curious how his performance improved over the course of the game that day after the 4 first half fumbles and UCLA had a big lead...
So in the history of football, someone improving over the course of the game has never happened before. Especially in a big event like. THE ROSE BOWL. HELLLLLLOOOOOOOO IN THEREEEEEE.
Got it, good to know.
