Fran Harris
Encyclopedia
Fran Harris is an American television host and former professional basketball player. She is currently the host of Home Rules, a television series on HGTV
HGTV
HGTV , is a cable-television network operating in the United States and Canada, broadcasting a variety of home and garden improvement, maintenance, renovation, craft and remodeling shows...

.

Early life and education

Born in Dallas, Texas, Harris is the fourth of five children; she has three brothers and a sister. She started playing basketball when she was a sophomore at South Oak Cliff High School
South Oak Cliff High School
South Oak Cliff High School is a public secondary school located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas...

 and played on the on JV and varsity teams her first year. She then helped the team to a 40-0 season and State Championship. She moved on to the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...

 where she had a standout basketball career and earned bachelor's degrees and masters degrees in journalism.

Basketball career

Harris was a player for The University of Texas at Austin from 1982 to 1986. She led her team to its first and only NCAA Championship title, to date in 1986 with the first perfect season in women's NCAA history. The team went 34-0. Harris was the leading scorer three years in a row and was the team captain in 1986. She was named to the Southwest Conference All-Decade Team, SWC Player of the Year and was two-time team MVP, selected by teammates. Harris was an outside shooter who finished her career as the University's fourth all time leading scorer with 1,798 points.

Harris played for USA Basketball as part of the 1985 USA National Jones Cup Team that captured Gold for the second year in a row, World Championship Team in 1986 that won Gold, USA Women's Pan American Team
USA Women's Pan American Team
The Pan American Team is one of the teams under the auspices of the USA Basketball organization. The Pan American Games are held every four years in the year before the Olympics. The first Pan American Games were held in 1951, but those games were men only. The Second Pan American games in 1955...

 in 1987 that won a gold medal in Indianapolis, Indiana and was an Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 Team Alternate in 1988.

After college, Harris went to play professional basketball in Italy and Switzerland. She later played for two years in the WNBA. In the league's inaugural season, she was a member of the Houston Comets. She started one game for the Comets but played in 25 games coming off he bench, scoring a total of 104 points on the season as the Comets won the first-ever WNBA Championship. The next season, she was a starter for the Utah Starzz. At the end of the season she was waived from the team's roster, and chose to retire and begin her career in broadcasting with TV partner, Lifetime.

Other career activities

Harris is the host of the transformational makeover show, Home Rules on HGTV, in which Harris helps redesign the interiors of people's homes.

Harris has been coaching since she was a teenager and has been a fitness advocate since college. Since retiring from the WNBA, Harris has appeared as a fitness and life coach on many television shows. She produced and hosted her own reality show, America's Fitness Show, which aired in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

.

In 2011, Harris was one of eleven contestants appearing on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 competitive reality television series America's Next Great Restaurant
America's Next Great Restaurant
America's Next Great Restaurant is an NBC reality television show featuring contestants pitching restaurant ideas to a panel of judges, where the winner receives financial backing for their restaurant concept. Three locations were opened across the nation — Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and New York—on...

, in which aspiring restaurateurs pitch their concepts for a fast casual restaurant
Fast casual restaurant
A fast casual restaurant is a type of restaurant that does not offer full table service, but promises a higher quality of food and atmosphere than a fast food restaurant. In the US, it is a relatively new and growing concept positioned between fast food and casual dining...

chain. Harris and her concept, The Sports Wrap, was the first to be eliminated from the competition. She responded to her elimination in a published exit interview by calling the decision, "total rubbish" and "bullshit", and expressing disdain for the judges.

External links

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