UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Jim Harmon was a 2-time national sprint champion and a member of the 1978 and 1979 Blugold teams which finished second in the NAIA Nationals. Harmon was Blugold team Most Valuable all three seasons at Eau Claire in 1977, 1978 and 1979. He was in pre-engineering, a program not available at UWEC, and transferred to UW-Madison where he obtained his Mechanical Engineering Degree in 1981. In the 1979 NAIA Nationals, he won four gold medals as he successfully defended his titles in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles and anchored the 400 medley and 800 freestyle relay teams to championships. That same year, he won six gold medals in six attempts in the conference meet, winning the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle and anchoring the Blugolds to victory in all three relays. When he left the university, his name was attached to the varsity records in all six events as well. Harmon was team captain and NAIA District 14 Swimmer of the Year in both 1978 and 1979.
Following his graduation from UW-Madison, Harmon spent two years as a Mechanical Engineer with Fluor Engineers and Constructors in Houston, Texas. From 1983 until early in 1990, he was with Schwitzer US Inc. in Indianapolis, Indiana as an Applications Engineer and a SaIes Engineer. A Racine native, Harmon was a four-time state champion at Case High School. At the time of his induction, Harmon had just joined Holset Engineering Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio as a Senior Technical Sales Engineer.
