Dr. Patrick Harr, a Maryville native, is now in his 48th year as a team physician at Northwest Missouri State University. He spent 12 years on campus as a student at Horace Mann, before graduating from Maryville High School in 1962. A favorite memory from those early days on campus was playing as a sophomore in the first ever basketball game in the newly constructed Lamkin Gym.
After two years as a pre-med student at Northwest, Harr transferred to the University of Missouri-Columbia where he obtained his MD degree in 1969. After three years of residency in Family Medicine at the University of Rochester Highland Hospital in Rochester, New York, and two years of military service at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida, Harr returned home to begin his medical practice in 1974.
Right from the start, Dr. Harr was involved with taking care of Spoofhound and Bearcat athletes. By the time he “retired” from full time practice in 2012, he had been on the sidelines for over 1,000 football games between MHS and Northwest. Over the nine years, he has added nearly 200 more to that total. Besides football, Dr. Harr covered thousands of basketball games between both institutions. He could also be found at baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, and wrestling matches.
He has been on the sidelines for almost all football playoff contests and all six national championship games, as well as many basketball playoffs and all three national championship games. He has watched the phenomenal rise to national prominence of Northwest athletics, but also remembers the past years of struggle as well.
When asked about favorite memories, Dr. Harr would reply, too many to count. Obviously, the march through playoffs to reach a “natty” would be at the top of good times. The Arrowhead games were special, not only because of the competition, but seeing the huge turnout of NW fans was lights out. Who could ever forget the electricity from the sellout crowd at the national championship game at Sporting KC, or the raucous crowd at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls for the first NW Basketball National Championship.
For his years of service, Dr. Harr has been enshrined in the Missouri Athletic Training Hall of Fame (1995), the Missouri Sports HOF (2001), and the Bearcat HOF (2012). In addition, the athletic training room in the Hughes Field House is named after Dr. Harr and his wife Teri. The Harr Athletic Success Center in Lamkin Gym honors both Dr. Harr and his father John, a longtime faculty member at Northwest.
Among his favorite experiences at NW are the six years he spent on the Northwest Board of Regents, serving as chair for four of those years. Most of all Dr. Harr cherishes the relationships he has had with the thousands of athletes, the coaches, athletic training staff, and athletic directors over the nearly five decades of service.
“Northwest is a special place with very special people, and it has been such an honor and privilege to be part of the team. My life is full.” OABAAB!!!
