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The Blueseum tribute to George Harris
Former Carlton President George Harris, the architect of arguably the greatest era in the Carlton Football Club’s long and illustrious history, has died at the age of 85.
Harris, who had experienced on-going health problems for many years, passed away peacefully this afternoon at the Memorial Home in Heidelberg, surrounded by his entire family.
“With the passing of George Harris, a leviathan of the Carlton Football Club has sadly been lost,” Carlton Football Club President Richard Pratt AC said.
“In the pantheon of Carlton’s long and successful history, few men - whether director, player, member or supporter - can truly say that they gave more to Carlton than him.
“Everyone at Carlton extends their deepest sympathies to the Harris family, on the passing of a man whose contributions to this Club may never be surpassed.”
Harris, whose wife Jean died in 1999, is survived by his four children – Ken, Andrew, Christine and Robert – eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are yet to be finalised, but the service is to be held at the Carlton ground, within the confines of the Carlton Social Club which bears his name.
Born in St Kilda on August 30, 1922, Harris was a survivor of the wartime horrors of Changi who, on his return to civilian life, pursued a career in dentistry. His adopted vocation saw him serve as a dentist in the now-defunct HM Prison Pentridge.
But Harris will always be remembered as the man who formed Carlton’s famed Progress Party, and swept into power as President with the firm mandate of reviving the sad fortunes of a proud club which had plummeted to its then worst-ever standing of tenth in its Centenary season of 1964.
Harris rounded up 12 prospective board members to run with him at the December ’64 elections. Four of them were members of the existing board - vice-presidents Perc Bentley and Jack Wrout, and committeemen Graeme Emanuel and Bruce Comben.
To that quartet Harris rounded up eight “outsiders”, thus forming the Progress Party. The Progress Party’s 10-point platform demanded, among other things, a dedication to eliminate factions at Carlton for all time and TO ABOVE ALL WIN FOOTBALL MATCHES.
Under Harris’ watch, Carlton shook the VFL to its foundations when it secured the services as playing coach of Melbourne’s greatest son, Ron Barassi, in the days when switching clubs was seen as heresy.
The move ultimately paved the way for Carlton’s three-point victory over Essendon to secure the 1968 premiership – its first in 21 years - and the unforgettable 1970 Grand Final triumph, when Carlton prevailed over Collingwood by ten points after trailing by a mammoth 44 points at half-time.
Barassi departed in 1971, having aided and abetted Harris and his committee in transforming Carlton into a powerhouse of the VFL. John Nicholls then took the reins as captain-coach, and in the Grand Final of 1972 was a major contributor to the record Grand Final scoreline of 28.9 (177), tallied against another traditional rival, Richmond.
In 1974, Harris vacated the Carlton Presidency to pursue business interests. But it would be only a brief hiatus. Never comfortable in the media spotlight (he once famously dubbed newspaper journalists “the pricks from the press”) Harris sought refuge from the media glare by returning to Princes Park as President in 1978.
“The club was on a real slide, and I started to be put under pressure by a lot of people,” Harris once said. “My ego told me that I could go back and kick things into shape once more.
“My first time as President cost me thousands and thousands, and I didn’t even put in a bill for my telephone. My home phone accounts were like the national debt. I made an assessment, and decided that I would not put myself in the position of having to run flat out in my consultancy work in various fields, just to make up for what I would have to do at the club. So I said that if it was going to take ‘x’ hours, I must be paid for those hours. Before I stood for election, this was spelt out in a letter to every member.”
In 1979, with Alex Jesaulenko at the helm as captain-coach, Carlton secured its 11th premiership, again over Collingwood. In the wake of Wayne Harmes’ knocking of the ball back into play to set up the match-winning goal, Harris’ post-match comment incensed Magpies supporters when he famously declared: “What’s better than beating Collingwood by ten goals? Beating them by five points . . . in a Grand Final!”
Though Harris’ reign at Carlton ended amidst a bitter power struggle at the famed “House of Stoush”, Festival Hall, on the night of Tuesday, February 19, 1980, he remained staunchly Blue. Even when a stroke rendered him mute in 1991, Harris’s love for Carlton never waned.
One of his final public appearances came at Carlton’s Premiership Players Ball in 2004, at which he was welcomed to centre stage with a standing ovation.
As late as February of this year, Harris had a letter written and addressed to the club, which read;
To my beloved Blues
Please get your act together, we’re all hurting out here. We need strong leadership backed up by the type of loyalty that made Carlton famous.
I wish I could help. I can’t, but my heart’s still strong and it will always remain true Blue.
Yours sincerely and forever,
G.
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The Blueseum tribute to George Harris
