[msb-alumni] Pro Wrestler James Harris, 70, died on August 9, 2020
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2020 15:20:17 -0400
BlankI was almost tempted to post to Facebook that Kamala Harris had died.
That
certainly would have stirred things up!
Steve
James Harris, 70. By Alex Traub.
He became a top draw portraying a stereotypical menacing African warrior who
was
always supposed to lose to his white opponents. He died of Covid-19.
As a professional wrestler, James Harris was Kamala, the 'Ugandan Giant' who
filled
the ring with his menacing wails. Billed most often at 6 feet 7 inches tall and
weighing about 400 pounds, he towered over opponents, an edge he exploited by
tilting
back, hoisting a fist high above his head and then swinging it downward,
appearing to
strike foes with the force of his entire body.
Outside the ring, this colossus vanished. He retreated to his hotel room after
fights, not wanting to be heard laughing in public (lest he upend the image of
the
angry Kamala). He avoided restaurants, instead cooking catfish and hush puppies
in
his apartment.
"He didn't want to ever be seen, the big monster at the bar just kind of
hanging out
with people and eating a sandwich," Kenny Casanova, the co-author of Mr.
Harris's
autobiography, "Kamala Speaks," said in a phone interview. "You couldn't hang
out
with King Kong."
Mr. Harris died on Aug. 9 at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi in
Oxford.
He was 70. His wife, Emmer Jean Bradley Harris, said the cause was Covid-19.
After debuting in a regional wrestling league in the South in 1978, Mr. Harris
cycled
through aliases. He began drawing crowds in 1982 after donning his 'headhunter'
regalia, wrestling barefoot with a loincloth and spear. By 1984 he was in the
World
Wrestling Federation facing a crowd favorite, Andre the Giant, in matches
billed as
'battle of the giants.
As a racist caricature of an African tribal warrior, Kamala was fearsome yet
bumbling. He wore bold monochromatic face paint and was subservient to a white
"handler," who wore a pith helmet and ordered Kamala around with a riding crop.
Announcers derided him as "confused" or trumpeted him as "cannibalistic,
uncivilized,
unpredictable."
Mr. Harris played the part. After leaning into his long windup and landing one
of his
chops, he would strut and slap his belly in pride. He pretended not to
understand
basic rules of wrestling.
In interviews, he acknowledged the racial stereotypes of his character, though
he
stopped short of apologizing.
"It might have been a little bit of a disgrace to the Blacks," he once told a
local
TV station, "but, you know, I was just concerned about making a few dollars."
In 1986, when Mr. Harris challenged Hulk Hogan for the World Heavyweight
Championship, Mr. Hogan showed up in face paint, mimicking Kamala's. It was Mr.
Harris's job to lose to white heroes like Mr. Hogan while audiences roared in
pleasure.
When fans weren't running away from Mr. Harris in fear, Mr. Casanova said, they
sometimes threw batteries at him or punctured his car's tires.
Like other Black wrestlers, Mr. Harris was relegated to the role of the "heel,"
the
wrestling term for bad guy, and he made only a fraction of the money his more
famous
white counterparts reaped. He left the World Wrestling Federation in 1993.
"My drawing power was gone," he told the pop culture site HoboTrashcan in 2009,
"because nobody wants to see a loser all the time."
James Arthur Harris was born in Senatobia, Miss., south of Memphis, on May 28,
1950,
to Jessie Harris and Betsy Mosely, children of sharecroppers. His father died
when
James was a boy, and James went to work in the cotton fields with his mother
and
siblings. He quit Coldwater High School in ninth grade and engaged in petty
crime for
a time.
After wrestling, he hauled asphalt as a trucker and reappeared as Kamala at
small-time gigs in high school gyms. In 2011 and 2012, complications of
diabetes led
to amputations of his legs. He relied on disability checks and struggled to
afford
basic necessities. A previous marriage to Clara Freeman ended in divorce. His
son,
James Jr., died in 2005. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his sister
Emma
Harris Caldwell.
Mr. Harris remained bitter about the poor pay he received, but he also
expressed
pride in his wrestling career.
"It gave me an identity," he told the sports website Bleacher Report.
Reflecting on the creation of Kamala, he said, "You could say I was born twice."
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