Speaking of his life turnaround: “I can’t believe I’m here. What I really want to do is buy, sell, and race horses.” – Cordon Harris (Photo Provided)
A former football standout is getting a second chance at life, thanks to his diligence to make the most of opportunity he now sees with fresh eyes.
By Bob Roberts for Press Pros
The size of a raceway horse stall is about 10 X 10. The size of a prison cell is approximately 6 X 8.
Freedom, and the lack of it, is rarely measured in squares and rectangles or inches and feet. But there is quite a difference between 100 square feet of freedom and 48 square feet of incarceration.
Cordon Harris knows all too well the math of both environments. Chiseled and heavily tattooed, Harris is a groom on Northfield Park’s backstretch. He’s been one since February of last year, working for TheStable.ca, a fractional harness ownership stable co-founded by Anthony MacDonald.
But 20 months ago, Harris was staring at the walls of an Ohio prison instead of knocking running backs off their feet on a college or professional football field.
In 2019, Harris, a native of Green, an Ohio city in southern Summit County, crossed the line from being an everyday citizen to becoming a 54-month-serving convict when a simple deal to purchase a pair of shoes from an acquaintance evolved into criminal activity.
He pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and felonious assault and was sentenced to a minimum of four years and a maximum of six years in state prison. He was just 19 and 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.
Harris served his time at the Lebanon Correctional Institute, less than two miles from Miami Valley Gaming racetrack in Warren County.
“It was bad,” said Harris. “Those prison cells were tiny. If I extended my arms, I could touch the walls with my fingertips. There were roaches in the cells. They’d crawl up next to your face while you’re sleeping. I just tried to stay out of trouble. I saw some bad stuff there.”
Harris did 4½ years, spending most of his time working out, getting introduced to the art of tattooing, playing chess, or taking a class in Culinary Arts.
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“I had no interest in being a chef, but they feed you food in that class that you can’t get in regular prison,” he said. “I got to eat ribs, and bacon, and a little steak.”
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 said. “It was very difficult finding a job. Honestly, I couldn’t get a job anywhere else because of my record.”
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.”
In a strange twist of fate, Boyd was close to Harris when he was in prison.
“Of course, I didn’t know him then, but I was paddocking down at Miami Valley when he was in Lebanon,” she said.
Harris, according to MacDonald, is thriving as a groom of pacers and trotters.
“He’s a good guy, a really hard worker,” he said. “Cordon has a good head on his shoulders and is really likeable. He and his girlfriend do about a dozen horses. Some days they work from dawn to midnight.”
Harris’ rehabilitation at the races has impressed MacDonald and bolstered his faith in the youth of America.
“It’s reassuring and refreshing to see young people work that hard,” he said. “There are nights I see them paddocking two or three horses until past midnight. Cordon always seems to have a rake in his hand. He’s always doing something around the barn.”
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Pulling hard for Harris to succeed is Amy Hollar, the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association representative at Northfield Park.
“I think he’s awesome. He’s given me no reason to think otherwise” she said. “His past is hopefully well behind him. He’s impressed me in just the couple of years I’ve known him.”
What impresses Harris most is his paycheck.
“My favorite day of the week is Saturday, because that’s payday,” he said. ”Some days, I can’t believe I’m here. I make about $1,000 a week. We work hard and get just one day off, but the money is good, really good.”
Harris sees similarities between football and harness racing.
“It’s a beautiful sport, I like how the horses love going fast,” he said. “They are athletes like I was. And the money that I’m making has me planning on being a horse owner. What I really want to do is buy, sell, and race horses.”
Harris hopes to follow in Boyd’s footsteps. She recently purchased her first horse, a pacer named Captainess, who races out of the barn of trainer Terry Merriman at Northfield.
Harris lost his place on the football field to a reckless act, but he might find a new way to compete – in the sulky of a standardbred.
“He’s been too busy grooming to get behind a horse, but he could become a driver,” said MacDonald. “He’s certainly athletic enough to do it.”
“Maybe,” said Harris. “It’s competitive and I sure like competition.”
Harris continues to adjust to his freedom. Upon his release from prison, he had trouble sleeping, but he says the nightmares and the restlessness are now history.
“I try not to think about my past, but sometimes I do,” he said. “I did wrong and I paid for it. As for the tattoos, I got them all in prison. But I wish I didn’t. I was young.”
Harris is older now, calmer, and wiser. Harness racing is helping to keep him on track.
