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Hall of Fame Spotlight: Angela (Harris) McGraw
1/19/2015 11:27:00 AM | General, Track and Field, Athletics
By Marc Bowman
Talented and driven, Angela Harris McGraw is a role model.
The 12-time Mid-Con conference champion persevered through difficult personal challenges to succeed both on and off the track.
Harris and her sister, Erica, were a big part UMKC's track squad success in the late 1990s. Erica admires her younger sister.
“She's a leader,” Erica said. “I see it in her personality. What really stands out in my mind is where she came from. From high school to her last year in college she really came into herself and got more confident. There were some obstacles she was able to overcome and perform well. She never gave up. She tried her hardest to the end. I never heard her complain and she always did her best. I always admired her for being able to excel through difficult circumstances.”
“When I got to UMKC she was there,” Angela said of Erica. “She was my idol, somebody I looked up to. When she graduated I was a junior and then the underclassmen started to look at me as a leader.”
Harris also drew inspiration from Coach Dave Krueger, who provided her with one of her best memories at UMKC.
“My freshman year was my worst track and field year ever,” she recalled. “I grew one-and-a-half inches before track season. Everything was off. My stride was off. I never contemplated quitting, but I wondered if I could accomplish what I thought. Coach Krueger gave me a pep talk, telling me 'it's your freshman year; a lot of things are new to you. You are a good runner. Hang in there and things will pay off in the end'.
“It was one of those things I needed to hear because I wasn't good at sharing. I'm glad he was able to pick up on it. From that point on, no matter what, I was going to keep giving it my all, at practice, in the weight room, on the track. This is going to pay off. My sophomore year was a bit better and as a junior and senior I began to see the payoff. The perseverance, I got from Coach Krueger.”
Harris used that experience to impart leadership experience to her teammates.
“When I think of a leader, I think of somebody who you will to listen to, somebody you're willing to emulate,” she said. “Positive leadership can lead you in the right direction. I think for me it was really encouraging my teammates when they were running, cheering them on at practice and meets.”
While she was cheering on her teammates, she gave them plenty to cheer for, too, winning conference championships in the 60-meter hurdles in 1999 and 2000, the indoor 400-meter dash in 1999, and the 100-meter hurdles in 1999 and 2000. She was also a part of four indoor 4x400 relay champs (1995, 1996, 1998 and 2000), and three outdoor 4x400 relay winners (1997-99).
Harris owns two school records, for the 55-meter hurdles (8.04) and 100-meter hurdles (13.95) and is among the top four all-time for UMKC in the 60-meter hurdles (8.61), indoor 400 (56.74), outdoor 400 (55.76), outdoor 200 (24.73) and 400-meter hurdles (1:01.34). Among her top achievements was being named Mid-Con Indoor Athlete of the Year in 1999.
She credits Coach Krueger's training methods with helping her succeed.
“He made me run cross country, which was difficult,” she said. “But it did pay off in the end. When it came to the 400 hurdles, that's an endurance race. Running cross country was my endurance. It was a mental thing. I knew if I can run seven miles in practices with a two-mile warm-up and two-mile cool down, surely I can do one lap of hurdles.”
Despite the early struggles, Harris enjoyed her UMKC track experiences.
“It was a really exciting time for me,” she said. “Track and field at UMKC was just so fun with the people that were there and being pushed beyond what I thought I could do. The academic advisors there helped, too, setting goals and I would reach them and go beyond. It helped shape me into the person that I am.”
The successes at UMKC have helped Harris achieve personal goals.
“Actually I just got a new job,” she said. “It's the job that I wanted, at Nebraska-Omaha, working in Information Technology as a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) coordinator.”
She has additional goals, too, as she is working towards a PHD in Political Science and hopes to run for public office and be on a school board someday.
For now, she's pleased to have received the honor from UMKC.
“It means so much,” Harris said. “It feels good when you put in so much work, put in 110 percent and then 10-15 years later to be recognized for that.”
She will be officially enshrined into the UMKC Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday night in downtown Kansas City at 6 p.m. at the College Basketball Experience, next to the Sprint Center.
Each member of the Hall of Fame will be spotlighted this week leading up to the induction ceremony.
