Thanks to The Courier for offering the opportunity to publish my memoirs of Roy Harris:
In my mind, Roy reflected the spirit of all that made America great. That spirit found reflection in Conroe itself, as exemplified in his official depiction as a Conroe Legend on the walls just off main street. I’d like to accordingly, reflect on Roy in light of the three criteria for this grand honor: “Raised in Conroe, honored at the national or state level in their field and brought positive publicity to themselves and Conroe.”
I. “Raised in Conroe”: Raised in Cut and Shoot in the immediate aftermath of the George Strake-induced oil boom, Roy’s family, while humble, stood firm against multiple challenges to themselves and neighbors from intermittent outside interlopers of a malevolent disposition. Multiple were the stories of which I listened spellbound as a youth to record in two published books entitled, respectively, “Cut ’N Shoot Texas” and “Roy Harris: Backwoods Battler”. The second of these was based explicitly on Roy’s personal memoirs with Roy listed as co-author and is currently in stock at Conroe’s Heritage Museum.
II. “Honored at the national or state level in their field”: It was Cut and Shoot’s then rugged environment which generated the inspiration for Roy’s dad, “Big Henry,” and mine, J.T. Montgomery, to pioneer a successful boxing program in Conroe. It was from this base that upon garnering four state amateur titles, Roy advanced to become a national icon. His humble spirit sparked national attention when he received the “Joe Lewis Award” for politely accepting an obviously unfair decision as the alleged loser in a pivotal fight with national implications.
Similarly, as a super successful professional, Roy accepted the decision of the referee to call the world heavyweight title match for his opponent, then world champion, Floyd Patterson. Roy was still standing after the 12th round of a scheduled 15 round fight in Los Angeles in August of 1958. Additionally, Roy never used the excuse of having little time for quality training for the big fight due to six months of full- time duty as a reserve Army Officer just before the event.
III. *Brought positive publicity to themselves and Conroe’: Roy’s humble spirit reflected brilliantly in his post- boxing career. Here his humility and intelligence garnered him election to 28 years as Montgomery County Clerk linked to amazing success in real estate and as an attorney, these succeeding an earlier sojourn as a teacher in public school.
Roy was above all, a devoted family man, with his wife, Jean, fathering eight children, two of whom died early. This brings to light a major highlight of my own life, as reflected in Roy’s personal memoirs: “Our first child was a boy . . . We called him Roy Robin Harris, named for me and our good friend, Robin Montgomery.” (Page 240, in Roy Harris: Texas Backwoods Battler). Unfortunately, this child died before leaving Methodist Hospital in Houston.
Roy Harris, International hero and personal hero of this writer.
Robin Montgomery is a native of Montgomery County, author, retired professor, historian and columnist for The Courier.
