My earliest recollection of Scott Harris was not as a viewer of his decades worth of work at one of Orlando TV stations, or even as a coworker. It was as a student.
- Exhibit at Orange County History Center honors Scott Harris
- News 13 anchor passed away in 2011
- Harris' career covered decades of Orlando news
Harris, News 13's longtime anchor who passed away in 2011, came to speak to one of my journalism classes at University of Central Florida in 2002.
One of the first things he said struck me most as I took in "Remembering Scott Harris" the new exhibit honoring the life of this prolific political journalist at the Orange County Regional History Center.
Scott said he started in the business when Orlando was TV market 40. Now (in 2002), it's market 20.
Scott Harris' life and Orlando's history are practically entwined, and the exhibit, a selection of momentos from his own vast collection, shows that. He went to Edgewater High School, then University of Central Florida in its formative years. He anchored at two TV news stations and radio before he helped launch News 13 in 1997.
Scott watched Space Shuttle Columbia launch for the first time in 1981. He was on the desk after the shuttle disintegrated in 2003. He rarely missed a launch.
He was there for all the hurricanes. He disliked "hunker down" as much as we all did after Hurricane Charley in 2004. He was there for all the elections. He interviewed politicians ranging from presidential candidates (Barack Obama in 2008) to Soil and Water Conservation Commission candidates.
He prided himself on the fact that he could be a tough interviewer, but he was also a fair one. I had the privilege of serving in the control room during his Sunday morning "For the Record" shows. Now the show is "Political Connections." Our Ybeth Bruzual, who now anchors the show as well as mornings here on News 13, started in the business as his intern.
We looked up to him as "the Senator." He could drive a producer up the wall with his curmudgeonly critiquing. He could shred a 30-second story about a Walmart opening, turning into a 10-second piece, barely long enough for the video to run. And you knew why, though you might argue with him.
But he was respected. He was a walking encyclopedia, he knew everyone in Orlando, and we knew where to go when we needed not only information or a source, but advice.
There are news people, not only all over Orlando, but all over the country, who once in a while look up from their computers or their cameras and think, "What would Harris do?"
"Remembering Scott Harris" runs through Nov. 25 at the Orange County Regional History Center.