Harold Scott III has been elected to the Northeastern Hall of Fame for his achievements in the sport of football.
Scott, Class of '91, served the Huskies as a very special special teams player and as a backup fullback in his freshman and sophomore seasons. However, the young running back from Phillipsburg, Pa., who played at 190 pounds as a freshman emerged his junior season at 230. He had developed the size and maturity to play fullback in the demanding wishbone offense, which requires carrying the ball 25 times a game and blocking a linebacker the other 40-odd plays. It was a demanding test.
Scott answered the challenge with the single greatest season ever enjoyed by a Northeastern running back. In the season opener against Towson, he churned out 102 rushing yards. The following week versus Maine he served notice that game one was no fluke by blasting out 217 yards to set a new NU record.
From then on, 100-yard games were the norm, including game number nine of the season, a Homecoming contest with Rhode Island. Scott ran wild. Carrying the ball 35 times, he gained 248 yards to reset the single-game record and power the Huskies to a 24-19 victory. Late in the third quarter, a 33-yard TD romp not only put the game away, but put him over 942 yards for the year to set a Husky season yardage record.
The next week he ran for an even 200 yards in a 33-26 win over Lehigh. Scott closed out the year with 1282 yards. The game mark of 248 yards and the season total of 1282 both remain NU benchmarks.
In a preseason practice next spring, Scott injured his knee and underwent immediate surgery. The summer was spent in rehabilitation, but the entire fall was a battle with the knee. Scott still proved to be the workhorse, carrying the ball 155 times for 780 yards in a 10-game season.
Scott finished his career with 2396 rushing yards, a mark that lasted as NU's best for seven seasons and is still second in the program's hierarchy. Scott received all the appropriate adulation, earning Team MVP and All- New England honors in 1988 and '89. He also was All-East in 1988 and a captain in '89.
