Rick Harmon was one of the most highly rated recruits Syracuse basketball had in the 1970s. He was the first McDonald's All American to come to Syracuse. He would, however, play only one season for the Orangemen.

Harmon was a tall stocky guard with a reputation for tremendous ball handling skills. When he arrived at Syracuse he had three experienced guards ahead of him in Marty Headd, Hal Cohen and Eddie Moss. As a result he saw less playing time then he would have liked; plus the transition to the college game was tough as he was not as fast as the smaller guards around him.

Harmon would quit the team after Christmas break along with classmate Ron Payton. A week after being away from the team, both of them would rejoin. Harmon would be a solid reserve for the remainder of the season, though he did injure his knee.

Harmon would again quit Syracuse at the end of the season because of a falling out with coach Jim Boeheim. He would transfer to Old Dominion. However, he would never play for the Monarchs as he would re-injure his knee severely in an intra squad game, resulting in a staph infection and then a bone infection, which led to hospitalization for nine months.[1]

©RLYoung 2012, 2021

[1]Syracuse Herald-Journal, December 14, 1984