Players of Color Part 1: Jean Harbor
Holding The High Line celebrates Black History Month
Hi High Liners. This is Red. I’ve been contemplating what to write for my first article/series on our Substack.
The Colorado Rapids have a long history of Players of Color putting on the shirt (of various eras and colors). The club is currently has several People of Color who are good people, good in their technical roles with the club, and actively engaged in social change, whether it’s with the Black Players for Change or elsewhere.
February is Black History Month. MLS is Black, the Colorado Rapids are Black, and these giants deserved to be recognized.
Players of Color Part 1: Jean Harbor
I’ll start with a member of the first Starting XI in club history, Jean Harbor. Born in Nigeria, he emigrated to the United States and played college soccer at Alabama A&M. The forward is a part of what I would call a lost generation in American Soccer, graduating from college and wanting to turn professional in the United States prior to MLS starting.
Becoming an OG Rapid:
After several years in the Wild West of professional soccer in the 1980s and early 1990s, Harbor was selected second overall in the MLS Inaugural Player Draft. In that, Harbor was the fifth Rapids player in history after the four allocated players: Marcelo Balboa, Shaun Bartlett, Dominic Kinnear, and Roy Wegerle.
Harbor played just one season with the Rapids, starting 29 games, and wore the #13 shirt. He led the team in scoring in the inaugural season with 11 goals.
A dynamic player with good speed, he could play wide or up top. There’s some good film of him back in the day taking on defenders and creating excitement in space that Jonathan Lewis would appreciate. Harbor was easily recognizable by the nose tape he would wear during games.
He was one of three Players of Color to start the opening game of the season, alongside Bartlett and Dennis Hamlett. He assisted the first goal in Rapids history, scored by Balboa. After ’96, he returned to playing indoor soccer.
Harbor gained his U.S. citizenship in the early 90s and was capped 15 times for the USMNT. He did not make the 1994 World Cup or 1995 Copa America squads.
In Retirement:
After his playing career was done, Harbor went on to work as an engineer at NASA, based in Maryland.
American Soccer hasn’t always been equitable in distributing opportunity, especially to ethnic minorities. Harbor is a great example of what can happen when an intelligent young player is given an opportunity at the collegiate, professional, and international level regardless of the color of one’s skin.
Both photos curtesy of Getty Images via Jed Jacobsohn /Allsport.