Jim Harrison

James "Jim" Harrison (born December 11, 1937) is an American author known for his poetry, fiction, reviews, essays about the outdoors, and writings about food. He has been called "a force of nature", and his work has been compared to that of William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. Harrison's characters tend to be rural by birth and to have retained some qualities of their agrarian pioneer heritage in spite of their intelligence and some formal education. They attune themselves to both the natural and the civilized world, surrounded by excesses but determined to live their lives as well as possible.

Biography

Harrison was born in Grayling, Michigan, to Winfield Sprague Harrison, a county agricultural agent, and Norma Olivia (Wahlgren) Harrison, both avid readers.

He became blind in one eye after a childhood accident ("My left eye is blind and jogs like/a milky sparrow in its socket"). He is a 1956 graduate of Haslett High School, Haslett, Michigan. When he was 21, his father and sister died in an automobile accident.

Jim Harrison (artist and writer)

Jim Harrison (born January 12, 1936) is an artist and writer whose work is known for chronicling earlier twentieth century rural life. Harrison’s paintings are featured in personal and corporate art collections across the country and he has had successful one-man shows at the Hammer Galleries in New York City and the Conacher Gallery in San Francisco.

Biography

Jim Harrison was born in his grandmother’s house in Leslie, Georgia, January 1936. When he was six years old, his father took a job with American Telephone and Telegraph Company, and his mother worked as a Southern Bell switchboard operator in Denmark, South Carolina. At Denmark High School Harrison worked on the annual staff, school newspaper, and class bulletin boards. During summer vacations, Harrison took a job as an assistant to a seventy-year-old sign painter, J.J. Cornforth. The elderly gentleman taught him how to letter, and for several summers the two traveled the rural areas around Denmark painting Coca-Cola bulletins on the sides of barns and country stores. Harrison marks this time as what sparked his interest in art. His mother also pushed him to pursue his interests in art. After high school graduation Harrison entered the University of South Carolina where he pursued a dual major in art and physical education. In 1960 he began an eleven-year high school coaching career which included working for the national league baseball Cleveland Indians as a part-time talent scout from 1965 through 1970. At three schools he coached football, girls’ basketball, and baseball, and he never experienced a losing season as a head coach. In 1970 he declined an offer to join the Furman University football coaching staff and returned to his hometown of Denmark, South Carolina to pursue a career as an artist.

Jim Harrison (ice hockey)

James David Harrison (born July 9, 1947) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played 324 games in the National Hockey League and 232 games in the World Hockey Association. He played for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Cleveland Crusaders, and Chicago Black Hawks.

A notable achievement of Harrison involved scoring 10 points (3G and 7A) in an 11-3 win over the New York Raiders in January 1973 . He also holds the WHL record for fastest natural hat trick, having scored 3 goals in 24 seconds for the Estevan Bruins during a 6-5 win over the Regina Pats in December 1966.

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