Margaret and Hueston Harper Scholarship

The Margaret and Hueston Harper Scholarship was created in 2005 by Dr. Larry Harper and Steve Harper in honor of their parents, Margaret and Hueston Harper. The fund shall be used to provide annual scholarship support for a UCR scholar-athlete who has demonstrated outstanding academic and athletic achievement. The recipient may be a male or female freshman, sophomore or junior and must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2 with a declared program of study. The individual must be a member of a UCR intercollegiate athletics team in good standing.

Each head coach may nominate up to two eligible athletes from their team. The final selection will be based upon recommendation by the athletics academic coordinator in conjunction with the Outstanding Scholar-Athlete Selection Committee, of which the director of athletics will be a member. When possible, a member of the Harper family will be involved in the selection process to the extent permissible by NCAA regulations.

About Margaret and Hueston Harper

Hueston Harper was born in New Mexico in 1910, before it became a state. he grew up on a farm in the Rio Grande Valley, the stepson of a sharecropper. The nearest school was five miles away over rough terrain so he could not attend until, at 10 years old, he was big enough to ride a horse. Young Hueston saw flying machines in the sky and heard music pulled out of the air by a crystal radio apparatus. He realized that powerful ideas were shaping the world beyond his farm. The principal at the school, who was also the basketball coach, impressed on Hueston that education was the way out of poverty. When he completed the eighth grade, his stepfather demanded that he quit school and work full time on the farm. His father, in Los Angeles, offered to support him through high school, so Hueston ran away from home and went to Los Angeles.

At Compton J. C. Hueston came to the attention of the University of Southern California *USC) track coach by beating a USC shot-putter in a dual meet. A track scholarship at USC was a dream fulfilled for Hueston, combining his love of athletic competition with the opportunity for quality education. In his senior year (1034), he was captain of the USC track team and placed second at the national championship (IC4A) meet at Chicago.

In the spring of 1932, when he started working out with the USC track team., Hueston's 6'2" height and 230 pounds of solid muscle caught the eye of the USC football coach. Hueston was concerned about keeping up with his studies if he participated in two demanding sports, but the coach offered a powerful inducement: help in getting a coaching job after graduation. The Great Depression was then at its worst and even college grads were unemployed. The USC football team of 1932 was one of their all-time greats; undefeated, untied and almost unscored upon national champions. Hueston ad the thrill of starting in the Rose Bowl game on January 1, 1933.

Margaret Wilson was born in Michigan in 1912 and grew up in Los Angeles. Education was a big part of her life from the beginning. her father was a professor of electrical engineering at USC and her mother had been a teacher before they married. Margaret was also athletic but the opportunities for women to compete were very limited at that time. Her father died in 1921. However, she and her sister were able to attend USC on scholarship as children of faculty. Margaret majored in physical education and minored in english literature. She often extolled the classical Greek ideal of "A healthy mind in a healthy body."

Margaret and Hueston met at USC. They married after graduation in 1935. With the help of the USC football coach, they started their careers as teachers and coaches at Hemet High School. Hueston taught and coached at Orange Coast JC from 1950 until he retired in 1965. Margaret taught at Santa Ana HS during that time. They were a team until Margaret died in 2001. Hueston passed away in 2005.

 

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