  james larnell "shack" harris (born july 20, 1947) is an american football executive and former player. he is a senior personnel executive for the detroit lions of the national football league (nfl). he played as a quarterback in the american football league (afl) and the nfl with the buffalo bills, los angeles rams, and san diego chargers. ==college football career== harris played college football for the grambling state university tigers from 1965 to 1968. under the guidance of head coach eddie robinson, grambling won or shared all four southwestern athletic conference (swac) titles while harris was a player and he was named mvp of the 1967 orange blossom classic. ==professional football career== ===buffalo bills=== harris was drafted in the eighth round of the common draft by the american football league's buffalo bills, and would soon join fellow rookie o.j. simpson in the starting backfield. continuing the american football league's more liberal (than the nfl's) personnel policies, the bills made harris the first black player to start a season at quarterback in the history of pro football. harris was also just the second black player in the modern era to start in any game as quarterback for a professional football team. wide receiver marlin briscoe, of the afl's denver broncos, had been the first to start a game at quarterback in 1968, and a few of harris's completi
1947_births African-American_sports_executives_and_administrators American_football_quarterbacks Baltimore_Ravens_executives Buffalo_Bills_(AFL)_players Buffalo_Bills_players Detroit_Lions_executives Grambling_State_Tigers_football_players Jacksonville_Jaguars_executives Living_people Los_Angeles_Rams_players National_Conference_Pro_Bowl_players People_from_Monroe,_Louisiana San_Diego_Chargers_players