Former Blount head coach Ben Harris has been selected for induction into the National High School Football Hall of Fame.

Harris led the Leopards to four Class 5A state titles and played for two more in an eight-year period from 1990 to 1997.

He will be inducted June 14 in Canton, Ohio.

“Ben’s dedication to football, his ability to inspire and develop and his exemplary record as both a player and coach make him a deserving member of this year’s class,” said LaMont Robinson, chairman of the National High School Football Hall of Fame. “He stands as a role model for future generations of coaches and players.”

Harris was inducted into the Alabama State University Hall of Fame Class in November. He also has been inducted into the Mobile, Baldwin County and Alabama High School Sports Halls of Fame.

He won 135 games in 19 years as a high school head coach. Most of his success at that level came at Blount where he turned a program that had won 22 games in the seven years prior to his arrival into a statewide power.

In the first of his two stints as the Leopards’ head coach, Harris went 100-30 in 10 years, winning titles in 1990, 1992, 1996 and 1997. His teams finished as state runners-up in both 1991 and 1995.

“I’m so excited that he is finally getting the recognition he deserved,” said former Blount and Auburn quarterback Dameyune Craig. “Coach Harris did more with less, and it was done coaching with love. He went to three straight state championships and won two from 1990-1992 and had a grand total of two Division 1 signees. He is the greatest to ever do it.”

After going 10-12 in his first two seasons at the school, Harris then went 90-18 throughout the next eight seasons with the four state titles. Craig was part of those early Blount teams. Defensive lineman DeMarco McNeil was integral in the back-to-back titles in the late 1990s.

“So proud for coach Harris,” said McNeil, the state’s Mr. Football winner in 1998. “It couldn’t happen to a better person. He made me a better football player, a better football coach and, most importantly, a better man. We all knew in our community how special coach Harris was. We’re just ecstatic we get to share what he means to us with the rest of the football world.”

The Leopards went 30-5 in region play in Harris’ first stint, winning eight region titles. He left following his fourth title to take an assistant coaching position at his alma mater, Alabama State. He stayed there for five seasons and served as interim head coach at one point.

He returned to high school coaching at Daleville, spending two years there and leading the team to the playoffs both seasons. He came back home to Blount in 2002 and spent six more years as the Leopards’ head coach, leading the team to the playoffs twice more.

Harris, a Mobile native, played quarterback in college at Alabama State. According to the Hall of Fame release, Harris’ journey from player to coach “exemplifies the profound impact one individual can have on the game.”