Take a seat because this Napoleon Harris story is one that you’ve got to consume.
I first knew Harris as a star on one of the most crazy athletic high school basketball teams of all time. On that Thornton Township high school hoops team with Napoleon Harris (Thornton Wildcats class of ’97) was- former 49ers wide receiver Tai Streets, former Pittsburgh Steelers star Antwaan Randle-El and former college hoops stars Erik Herring and Melvin Ely.
Then I knew Napoleon Harris the star linebacker at Northwestern, who would then go on to become a starter in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings.
I wasn’t aware of retirement Napoleon Harris, a member of the Illinois state senate and owner of two Beggar’s Pizza franchises.
Unless you’re from the south side of Chicago or the south suburbs, you don’t know Beggar’s Pizza. If you are from that area (as this writer is), then you do know how transcendently good their pizza is!
This week, we all gained knowledge of another Napoleon Harris, superhero crime fighter.
Here’s the concise version below (for the whole, long version check out this link from the Washington Post)
Harris was working late one night at his Beggar’s location in Harvey, Illinois. One last delivery call came in, and by this point Napoleon had sent the rest of this staff home, prepared to make any potential deliveries himself. The delivery address was a vacant house, with four men waiting in the bushes to jump the driver and rob him.
They managed to take the pizza and Harris’s wallet as they put the former linebacker in a choke hold. The 37-year-old fought the four men off and then tailed their Chevy Tahoe. While tailing the would be assailants Harris called 9-1-1.
The men ditched the car, but police located it and found blood inside, CBS 2 in Chicago reports. DNA analysis of that blood showed it belonged to Lester Jones, a man who had gone missing and been found dead this month, the victim of an apparent robbery and murder.
With help from information provided by Harris, police eventually tracked the men to Georgia, where three of them were charged with murder. The Atlanta Journal Constitution identified the murder suspects as Lawrence Hines, Malik Mayer and a juvenile whose name is not being released. The fourth man is not suspected of being involved in the murder but is expected to be charged with the attack on Harris. Police said the men are also suspects in other crimes.
Got all that?!
Napoleon Harris has not publicly commented on these incidents. I think his actions have done all the required speaking for him already.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.