Unveiled - Humboldt Magazine - Humboldt State University

For Love of the Game
Scholarship honors one alum’s passion for sports
SPORTS ARE AT THE center
of Elizabeth Shannon’s
HSU experience. First was
volleyball. She knew she
wanted to play, and HSU
had the best program
around — not to mention,
she liked the coaches. Then
there was her major, Kinesiology
with an emphasis
in Exercise Science. As part
of her program, she gets to
test people’s fitness in the
Human Performance Lab
inside the brand new Kinesiology and Athletics
building on campus.
And to top it all off, she was awarded a
scholarship earmarked for students of physical
education.
For Shannon, a senior from Pioneer, Calif.,
the scholarship meant help with the financial
demands that every student faces: fees,
textbooks, rent — all the expenses that can
creep up. Easing that stress leaves more time
for things like daily three-hour practices and
traveling to games, time that has helped her
be part of a close-knit community. “The team
is like family. The players, they’re my sisters.”
It’s a good guess that this would have
pleased her scholarship’s namesake, the
late Virginia Torp Harris, who graduated from
what was then known as Humboldt State College
in 1938 with a degree in physical education.
She taught P.E. to girls in junior high
in South San Francisco and later in Portland.
James Harris (’36) was a student at Humboldt
State when he met Virginia, and they were
married for 52 years. James’ brother Robert
established the endowed scholarship in 1991
to honor Virginia’s passion for sports.
“Kids really liked her,
she really took an interest in
them,” says Suzanne Harris,
James and Virginia’s daughter.
“She even showed the
girls how to walk in heels
for graduation. They didn’t
know how, so at lunchtime
they brought their heels
in and she showed how to
walk in them. That was just
who she was, always looking
out for the young girls
she taught.”
Several Torp Harris scholarship awards
are handed out each year. Priority is given
to students of physical education,
but music students are also eligible.
That’s because, in addition to being
a champion tennis player, Virginia
was an accomplished violinist
who loved music and dancing.
For Liz Shannon, finding her
own passion for exercise science
is due in no small part to
faculty in the program. “I love
all my kinesiology professors,”
she says. “They really want students
to succeed.” Her handson
experience on campus in
the Human Performance Lab
was recently augmented
by a summer internship at
Providence Health and
Services in Portland.
After Robert Harris started the scholarship
upon Virginia’s death, friends and family
made additional donations in her memory.
James Harris, who before retirement was an
executive at Chevron, makes regular contributions,
and his gifts have been matched by
the company. Suzanne Harris muses, “If it can
inspire somebody else to help in whatever
little way, it all fits together. It’s keeping her
memory alive in a way that is her and would
mean so much to her.”
Top: Virginia Torp Harris taught physical
education and was always looking out
for her students. Right: Senior Elizabeth
Shannon, a Kinesiology major, was
awarded a scholarship that honors
Torp Harris’s love of sports.
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HUMBOLDT MAGAZINE | FALL 2009