Gary "Bull" Harper (2015) - Hall of Fame - Southwestern Oklahoma State University Athletics

Hall of Fame

Gary "Bull" Harper

Class

1983
Induction

2015
Sport(s)

Football

Gary C. "Bull" Harper was a standout linebacker on the SWOSU football team from 1979-80. Harper was a two-time all-conference and all-district player for the Bulldogs under head coach Bob Mazie and he helped SWOSU to a co-championship of the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference (OIC) in 1980. Following his senior season, Harper received several accolades, including being named the OIC and District IX Defensive Player of the Year along with First Team NAIA All-American and Third Team AP Little All-American honors. Upon his graduation in 1983, Harper spent one year as a physical education teacher and assistant football coach at Widefield HS in Colorado Springs before returning to his alma mater. Harper then came back to SWOSU where he served as a graduate assistant and linebackers coach for the Bulldogs from 1984-86 while also coaching the SWOSU men's track program, earning Coach of the Year honors in 1986. Harper returned to the high school ranks from 1986-88, coaching and teaching in Arlington, Texas before being hired as an assistant track and football coach at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, beginning a collegiate coaching career that has spanned ever since. Harper has made prior coaching stops at Tuskegee University, Morris Brown College, Savannah State University, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Benedict College and Alabama A&M and he currently serves as the assistant head coach and defensive line coach at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. A native of Gulfport, Miss., Harper earned his Bachelor's Degree in Health, Physical Education and Recreation from SWOSU in 1983.