Kansas City Kansas Community College

A fixture for 15 years at Veterans Day parades, bike races, triathlons, swim meets and numerous other events, Roger Harrison has ended a 15-year career as Coordinator of Veterans Affairs and Student Services Coordinator at KCKCC’s Leavenworth Center.

“When I went to races, events, or parades, I felt like I was representing the college,” says Harrison, who not only showed up wearing KCKCC apparel but arrived in a van adorned with the KCKCC flag, college logos and his familiar “Veterans Serving Veterans” slogan. “My first race I put KCKCC stickers on the orange cones that outlined the race route and had my 1988 Ford F150 van covered with stickers I got from Bill Ethridge at the Bookstore.”

For nearly 10 years, Harrison competed in bicycle road races and time trials and at age 60 still competes in criterion events against others in his age bracket – although he’s never been a winner. In fact, he’s earned the nickname “Lanterne Rouge,” a French phrase for “Red Lantern” referring to the red lantern hung on the caboose of a railway train, for finishing last in every race. “I race against myself,“ he says. “I just love it.”

But when it comes to supporting the sport of racing, he’s at the head of the pack. “He is the ultimate volunteer and helps make Kansas racing what it is,”:says Roger Lomshek, the president of the Kansas Cycling Association. In its infancy in 2001, the Kansas Cycling Association could not afford the many cones, barriers and other equipment necessary to mark lanes and corners and protect racers from traffic so Harrison invested thousands of dollars of his own money to purchase equipment to make racing safer and more enjoyable for both competitors and spectators.

“He does it purely for the love of the sport,” says Lomshek. “In 10 years, he has done so much to help cycling in Kansas.” Harrison’s contributions also include a massive stereo and speaker system he delights in cranking up the music to motivate riders and add a festival-like air to events and he keeps a Nikon on the sidelines to photograph racers which uploads to a Web site with 46,000 other photos he’s take at Kansas races. “People are here racing with no one to take pictures of them and I figured they’d like to have one of themselves,” he says.

His competiveness, however, is not limited just to bike racing. He was also a member of KCKCC’s outstanding Corporate Challenge swim team with Louise Martin, John Crossley, Marcus Mayhugh, Jeff Sixta and others and was a regular competitor in the annual Shawnee Mission Park Triathlon.

Harrison is especially visible in the annual Veterans Day Parade in Leavenworth. The second largest Veterans Day parade in the U.S., Harrison has been a crowd pleaser in a red, white and blue Abraham Lincoln hat in leading a group of veterans and college participants. Altogether, Harrison estimates he’s made between 700 and 750 appearances in parades, bike races, swim meets and other events.

Harrison’s proudest moments, however, have come through his work with veterans. A veteran of the Korean DMZ, Vietnam War and Desert Storm, Harrison rescued a struggling veteran’s program and gave it new life. Working with anywhere from 80 to 250 veterans, Harrison organized an E-group for all veterans using educational benefits. By building a massive distribution list, Harrison was able to keep vets informed on changes in benefits, up-to-date information from the Veterans Administration and any other information pertinent to those on the list.

“Veterans could contact me on any needs and I also had a secret Santa who took care of them if there were individual problems,” says Harrison.

“Roger Harrison took care of our veterans and service men; he was on point for us and no one could have done it better,” said Brian Bode, Associate Provost and Dean of Financial and Administrative Services, who presented Harrison with a college flag. “You’ve been a great, great ambassador for this college and you’re going to be greatly missed.”

A native of Chicago who attended Hiram Scott College in Scottsbluff, Neb., for 2 ½ semesters before volunteering for the draft, Harrison took advantage of the GI bill to earn a degree in Human Services from Saint Mary College in 1993 and worked at the Aero Mechanics school in Parkville until it closed at the end of May of 1994. Two months later, he joined the KCKCC Financial Aid Office and then moved to the Leavenworth Center as Veterans Certifying Officer and Student Service coordinator in 1997.

“There will be no other job,” says Harrison. “It’s over. I’m going to ride my bike and spend time with my family.” His wife of 23 years, Jana, is also a combat veteran. The first female Command Sergeant Major in the history of the Kansas National Guard, she was also the first female from the Kansas Guard to lead a battalion in a combat zone. Retired from the National Guard, she’s now a trainer at Northrop-Grumman Corp.

The couple has three sons, Sam, a student at KCKCC, and twins, Randy and Charlie, who will be seniors at Leavenworth High School. Harrison also has an older daughter, Ann Marie Rounds, and a one-year-old granddaughter, Samantha Rounds.

Also high on Harrison’s retirement list is finally getting to build a Z gauge model train railroad he’s been collecting for years. However, he won’t disappear from competition. “I’ll continue to do what I do which is racing and Julie Anderson of the Leavenworth Parks and Recreation Department has already volunteered me to set up different events starting up with a 5K race,” he says.

A collector of military and sports memorabilia which he has since given away, his most prized possession in leaving KCKCC are the e-mails he received when he announced his decision to retire. “I saved them all,” says Harrison, who was as at ease with generals and administrators as he was privates and low income employees.

“My memories of KCKCC are in my heart and mind, especially the persons who e-mailed me congratulations and requests for me not to retire. That meant the world to me. It was an honor to serve this college and there are so many who helped me I don’t dare try to list them for fear of leaving someone out – although I would be negligent if I didn’t salute the one who worked with me the most, The Squid, a.k.a. Nick Perica, Director of Counseling.”