By Christopher Colloca, D.C.
When I learned that Dr. Bill Harris had taken a fall at the age of 90, I knew things weren’t good. He had fractured his neck and was in a rigid collar while healing. In speaking with his family and secretary, I learned of the seriousness of his injuries. He had just approved a $25,000 matching challenge grant from his Foundation for our 2008 research. Weeks later, with his family by his side, he quietly passed away in Roswell, Georgia on Sunday, November 9, 2008.
William M. Harris, D.C. is known in the chiropractic profession as its greatest philanthropist. He gained this reputation by donating over $11 million to chiropractic education and research throughout his illustrious career. This was strictly by design. His influence in the profession began when he started his first successful practice in 1940. He began by influencing many of his family members and patients to become chiropractors as well, and pioneered chiropractic in the State of Georgia.
From Humble Beginnings
Dr. Harris was born and raised on a 2,000-acre family cotton farm in Opelika, Alabama. As a child, he witnessed father cured of a serious illness by a chiropractor, prompting his desire to enter the profession. His family gathered together $500 from their cotton farm to pay for Harris' tuition at Palmer College of Chiropractic. His family sent a small amount of money to him each month and Dr. Harris worked nights and weekends to make ends meet. In the midst of the Great Depression, Dr. Harris’ father died. He returned home to help run the family farm, and later finished his chiropractic education in Davenport. After graduation, he proudly paid his family back for the funds they provided him.
In the 1950's, Dr. B. J. Palmer, the president of the Palmer College and developer of the chiropractic profession, personally came to the dedication ceremony of Dr. Harris’ new clinic in Albany, GA. Throughout the years, Dr. Harris opened several very successful chiropractic practices throughout the State of Georgia. Others were eager to learn the secrets to his success. Dr. Harris began a practice management consulting business, coaching others to strive for success through his consulting, seminars, and trainings.
A Foundation for Giving
With his business acumen, work ethic, and wise investing, Dr. Harris began to amass wealth. He was a personal friend of Napolean Hill, and a fan of his book, “Think and Grow Rich.” In 1978, Dr. Harris chartered the Foundation for the Advancement of Chiropractic Education (F.A.C.E.), later renamed the William M. Harris Family Foundation, to begin in earnest to give back to the chiropractic profession. In honor of his generous donations, several chiropractic colleges have named buildings after him. His last great venture in chiropractic philanthropy was in Marietta, GA. When the Life University lost its accreditation and was facing serious financial troubles, Dr. Harris stepped up and gave the necessary collateral to hold the school from insolvency until it could be re-staffed and gain back its accreditation. The move saved Life which is now again thriving. Life University President, Dr. Guy Riekeman, had the following comments about Dr. Harris:
“Beyond all his tangible contributions, this fine man, who was both kindly and determined, has left us a legacy of the spirit. For so many decades, he has exemplified chiropractic’s commitment to humanity. In my mind, he will always stand as an icon representing the best of what we in this profession stand for and can rise to become. He was a great friend to me and I will truly miss him, as will so many others.”
A Personal Reflection
My friend, Dr. Terry Peterson and I traveled to Marietta, GA to attend Dr. Harris’ memorial service held at Life University. Dr. Riekeman began the ceremony and invited the attendees to don the red caps that were distributed upon arrival. A sea of red caps rightfully honored this great man. Several chiropractic college presidents and members of the Harris Family Foundation spoke at the service to honor his memory. Stories were told of the great man that Dr. Harris was and what he stood for. The congruent message of Dr. Harris’ work ethic, and desire to empower others through his matching challenge grants shined through from each of them. Following his death and during my trip to Atlanta, I reflected on my memories of this great man.
Dr. Harris stopped by our Atlanta Neuromechanical seminar last year. I invited him to give us a short talk and he gave us all an inspiring lecture spur of the moment, off the cuff. When I introduced him, I spoke of his accomplishments and his incredible philanthropy including the support of our research. I mistakenly said, “Dr. Harris has given over $5 million back to chiropractic.” From the front of the room, he looked at me a bit bewildered and whispered in my ear, “It was Ten.” I was just off by five million. I quickly corrected the error to the amusement of the audience. How embarrassing! At the age of 89, he had the seminar crowd standing and sitting and at full attention for his short talk. We had lunch together that day and he told me of how proud he was of our research and what our team had built — a new Instrument Adjusting technique to advance chiropractic, and a following of respected instructors and thousands of DC’s. Dr. Harris loved numbers.
I was first introduced to Dr. Harris in the mid 1990's when I was doing research with the National institute of Chiropractic Research (NICR). He had given us several matching grants each year ranging from $50,000 to over $100,000 that we were successful in raising matching funds from the profession. When I resigned from the NICR Board in 2001, I was without any funding to continue my chiropractic research. When he heard of this, Dr. Harris called me and offered his encouragement and advice to help me continue on the research track. He offered a generous matching grant that year such that he would match dollar for dollar what we were able to raise for our research. Dr. Don Harrison offered CBP Non-profit, Inc. to earmark contributions to this effort.
Each year for the past 8 years, we have been fortunate to receive word from Dr. Harris' Foundation that the matching grant challenge was on. Each year, we have met the challenge with selfless donations from chiropractors through our fundraising at our Neuromechanical/CBP® seminars. These challenge grants have been the catalyst funding source responsible for basic science and clinical research that we have done which has been presented at numerous chiropractic, orthopaedic, and other scientific conferences around the world. To this extent, scientific publications have been accomplished in chiropractic journals like the JMPT, and Chiropractic and Osteopathy, as well as medical and scientific journals like Spine, European Spine Journal, Clinical Biomechanics, the Journal of Biomechanics, and the Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology.
$25,000 Challenge Matching Grant Met for 2008
Earlier this year, we were notified to confirm our 2008 Challenge to raise $25,000 in matching funds from Dr. Harris' Foundation. We issued the challenge to the CBP® Non-profit membership and to the profession to meet the challenge. In an overwhelming show of support, we received over $49,000 in CBP® Non-profit donations in the campaign, doubling the amount required to secure the additional $25,000 from the William M. Harris Family Foundation. It was an incredible feeling to witness this kind of support. I would like to extend a sincere thank you to all of those who donated to last year’s research.
Dr. Harris' legacy is more than his tremendous success in business and in his profession, the buildings that bestow his name, or the millions of dollars that he gave back to his profession. His legacy is the very spirit of hard work and giving out of abundance that he so often taught others. He will be sorely missed and never forgotten.
Dr. Colloca is the CEO and Founder of Neuromechanical Innovations, a research-based medical device manufacturer and postgraduate education company serving the chiropractic profession since 2000. Based in Chandler, Arizona, the Neuromechanical Campus houses a 15,000 sq. ft. corporate headquarters, manufacturing and training facility where its patented products, the Impulse® and Impulse iQ® Adjusting Instruments are manufactured. The Impulse® family of adjusting instruments are in over five thousand chiropractic offices in all fifty U.S. states and over thirty countries around the world. Dr. Colloca holds postgraduate faculty appointments in a number of chiropractic colleges and has lectured extensively throughout the United States, and around the world on five Continents. A distinguished scientist, his original research has been presented at numerous international scientific conferences and published in several biomedical and professional journals. He is a reviewer for the Journal of Biomechanics, Spine, and European Spine Journal, among others.
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