Napoleon Harris | |||||||||||||||
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.JPG) Harris with theKansas City Chiefs in 2008 | |||||||||||||||
| Supervisor ofThornton Township | |||||||||||||||
| Assumed office May 19, 2025 | |||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Tiffany Henyard | ||||||||||||||
| Member of theIllinois Senate from the 15th district | |||||||||||||||
| Assumed office January 9, 2013 | |||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | James T. Meeks | ||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||
| Born | Napoleon Bill Harris III (1979-02-25)February 25, 1979 (age 46) | ||||||||||||||
| Political party | Democratic | ||||||||||||||
| Education | Northwestern University (BA) | ||||||||||||||
| Football career | |||||||||||||||
| No. 58, 50, 99 | |||||||||||||||
| Position | Linebacker | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 250 lb (113 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Thornton Township (IL) | ||||||||||||||
| College | Northwestern | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 2002: 1st round, 23rd overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
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* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Napoleon Bill Harris III[1] (born February 25, 1979) is an American politician and former professionalfootball player who has been a member of theIllinois Senate representing the 15th district since 2013. The 15th district stretches fromBlue Island in the north,Calumet City in the east,Homewood in the west,Steger in the south, and includes all or parts ofCrete-Monee,Dolton,Flossmoor,Glenwood,Thornton,Dixmoor, Markham,Midlothian,Oak Forest,Harvey,Riverdale, andSouth Holland.[2]
Prior to his service in the Illinois Senate, he played as alinebacker for seven seasons in theNational Football League (NFL) with theOakland Raiders, theMinnesota Vikings, andKansas City Chiefs at various times.
Harris grew up inDixmoor, Illinois.[3] He attended Lincoln Elementary School, Rosa L. Parks Middle School, and Thornton Township High School. He was a tri-star athlete and honor student. His father Napoleon Harris Jr. died his junior year of high school. His mother Brenda Faye Bowman Harris, raised Napoleon and his siblings, Tomeika and Jonathan as a single mother. Napoleon was determined to make his family proud and put them in a better position by using his brains and his athletic ability.
Harris was an honors student atThornton Township High School inHarvey, Illinois andlettered infootball andbasketball. In football, he posted 23sacks, 98tackles, twofumble recoveries, 1 forced fumble, twosafeties, and oneinterception and was named the Defensive Player of the Year by theChicago Tribune,Chicago Sun-Times,Star Publications,Daily Southtown, and theHammond Times. Napoleon also averaged 18 points and 10rebounds on the No. 1 basketball team in the country.[citation needed]
Napoleon Harris earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications fromNorthwestern University, where he playedcollege football for theNorthwestern Wildcats. For one year, he was a two sport athlete playingbasketball. His complete college career ranked 11th on Northwestern's all-time tackles list with 334.All-Big Ten Conference as a senior afterstarting all 11 games atdefensive end after moving from outside linebacker and ranked fourth on team in tackles with 78.[citation needed]
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 253 lb (115 kg) | 32 in (0.81 m) | 10 in (0.25 m) | 4.55 s | 1.60 s | 2.64 s | 4.44 s | 7.15 s | 34 in (0.86 m) | 9 ft 7 in (2.92 m) | 27 reps | |
| All measurables were taken at theNFL Scouting Combine;[4] see alsoscouting report | ||||||||||||
Harris was selected in the first round of the 2002 draft by theOakland Raiders, the 23rd overall pick.[5] That year, he started 13 of 16 regular-season games, all threeplayoff games, andSuper Bowl XXXVII for the Oakland Raiders and was named to thePro Football Weekly All-Rookie team.
In 2005, Harris was acquired by theMinnesota Vikings as part of blockbuster trade which sentRandy Moss to Oakland for the seventh overall pick and a seventh-round pick in the2005 NFL draft. The Vikings used the picks to selectwide receiverTroy Williamson andcornerbackAdrian Ward. Despite being traded for one of the premier players in the National Football League, Harris did not immediately live up to his potential thefollowing season with the Minnesota Vikings. In that first season with the Vikings, he was hampered with a lingering knee injury and saw limited playing time. However, in the second season he finished second on the team with 96 tackles, 3 interceptions, 3.5 sacks and 2 fumble recoveries in 14 games.
On March 6, 2007, Harris agreed to a six-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs.[6][7] The Chiefs released Harris on October 14, 2008. Just two days after his release from the Chiefs, Harris re-joined theMinnesota Vikings on October 16. Harris started in 5 of the 10 games he played and finished his second stint with the Vikings with 32 tackles and 1 sack, and also scored his first NFL touchdown after returning a fumble 27 yards in week 12 in Jacksonville. Despite a fairly good performance, the Vikings did not hold on to him.
In May 2008, Napoleon appeared on The CW Network seriesThe Game.[8] Harris signed a one-year contract with theOakland Raiders on August 24, 2009, after the team releasedcornerbackRicky Manning, but was released five days later.[9]
| Years | Team | GP | COMB | TOTAL | AST | SACK | FF | FR | FR YDS | INT | IR YDS | AVG IR | LNG IR | TD | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | OAK | 15 | 81 | 59 | 22 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2003 | OAK | 16 | 107 | 74 | 33 | 2.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2004 | OAK | 14 | 61 | 47 | 14 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2005 | MIN | 15 | 25 | 18 | 7 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 2006 | MIN | 14 | 59 | 42 | 17 | 2.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 4 |
| 2007 | KC | 16 | 116 | 82 | 34 | 1.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| 2008 | MIN | 10 | 32 | 24 | 8 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 100 | 481 | 346 | 135 | 8.5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 24 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 15 |
Source: ESPN.[10]
Harris is married to Nicole M. Bunton Harris with three children. Napoleon Nico Harris IV, Noah Bill Harris and Nahla Nicole Harris. After leaving the NFL, Harris, his wife, and children became the owner of two Beggars Pizza locations.
Napoleon is very active not only in the community but as a father, he coaches basketball for both of his son's AAU teams and also runs drills with his daughter with tennis. His children have his athletic skills as all three of them have won many awards and championships within their respective sports.
Andre Lydell Bunton was the brother-in-law of Senator Napoleon B. Harris III. He was tragically murdered on July 18, 2013, in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood. At 37 years old, Bunton was sitting in his car when he was shot in the chest. He attempted to drive away but lost control, crashing into two parked vehicles before succumbing to his injuries .
In 2011, afterIllinois State SenatorJames Meeks announced his retirement, Harris chose to run to succeed him in the 15th district on a platform of creating economic growth for the district.[11] He won the 2012 primary with a plurality of the vote against two opponents,[12] and ran in the general election unopposed.[13]
As of July 2022, Senator Harris is a member of the following Illinois Senate committees:[14]
After the death of longtimeThornton Township Democraticcommitteeman Frank Zuccarelli, Harris defeated State RepresentativeThaddeus Jones for the position.[15] Harris is the Democratic nominee for Thornton Township Supervisor (township executive) in the 2025 election, having been nominated in a township Democraticnominating caucus on December 3, 2024, defeating the scandal-plagued incumbent supervisorTiffany Henyard for the nomination.[16] Harris won the four-way race for township supervisor in the consolidated election on April 1, 2025, with 74% of the vote cast.[17] He was sworn in on May 19, 2025.[18]
While a member of the Illinois Senate, Harris has run for higher office on two occasions. In 2013, Harrisran for the congressional seat vacated byJesse Jackson Jr.,[19] but dropped out after two months, endorsingRobin Kelly.[20] In 2015, he announced his candidacy in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in2016.[21] He would come in third place, losing toTammy Duckworth, who would go on to win the general election.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Napoleon Harris | 10,172 | 43.64 | |
| Democratic | Donna Miller | 8,209 | 35.22 | |
| Democratic | Patricia "Pat" Mahon | 4,928 | 21.14 | |
| Total votes | 23,309 | 100 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Napoleon Harris | 73,762 | 100 | |
| Total votes | 73,762 | 100 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Napoleon Harris (incumbent) | 49,577 | 100 | |
| Total votes | 49,577 | 100 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Tammy Duckworth | 1,220,128 | 64.38 | |
| Democratic | Andrea Zopp | 455,729 | 24.05 | |
| Democratic | Napoleon Harris | 219,286 | 11.57 | |
| Total votes | 1,895,143 | 100 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Napoleon B. Harris III (incumbent) | 59,332 | 100 | |
| Total votes | 59,332 | 100 | ||
So had Harris, who grew up in Dixmoor and played for Thornton.
