Columbus, OH – Cordon Harris, a native of Green, OH, is a former football star who is getting a second chance at life working as a caretaker at MGM Northfield Park after spending four-and-a-half years in prison for crimes he committed at age 19.
In his feature for pressprosmagazine.com, Harness Communicators Hall of Fame (2023) member Bob Roberts, a former long-time horse racing writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, tells the story of how Harris “had to leave behind a football scholarship to the University of Toledo, which he earned after a standout high school career as a defensive end and a linebacker at first Green High School and then Akron Archbishop Hoban” to serve that sentence.
According to Roberts’ story, “Harris was released in October of 2023, 18 months early. He carried with him the record of his misdeeds. All at the age of 22.”
“’Not too many people want to hire a guy with a record,’ he (Harris) said. ‘It was very difficult finding a job. Honestly, I couldn’t get a job anywhere else because of my record.
Roberts explains, “A by-chance meeting with Caleigh Nichole Boyd in a club in Canton, Ohio not only led to a date, but to a companion and a career.”
“’I was grooming at Northfield Park, but I had two surgeries and I couldn’t do stalls or any heavy lifting for a while,’ said Boyd. ‘I didn’t want to quit, so I said, Here you go. Come with me and do my stuff. He learned fast, and now he loves it. He fits right in.’”
To read more about Harris’ in Roberts’ story on pressprosmagazine.com and on how he hopes one day to be a horse owner so that he can buy, sell and racehorses, click here.