Constitution High’s Harris commits to play basketball at Penn

Xavier Harris has given his word, and now it's just a matter of getting the number.

Harris, a 6-5, 210-pound forward at Constitution High, a special-admit, second-year Public League member located on 7th below Market, has committed to play basketball at Penn.

He informed the Quakers of his decision while at the same time saying thanks, but no thanks, to Dartmouth. St. Peter's was also sniffing around.

Next task: adding 30 more points to his SAT score. He took the test again last Saturday and has been told by Penn officials that there's no rush to achieve the required number.

"Knowing how hard Penn is, people have been saying to me for a while why I'd want to pick them," Harris said. "I'm honored by the fact that they wanted me and I'm working as hard as I can to make this happen.

"It's great to know I'll be staying home, and getting such a quality education. My mom [Bridgette Holmes] is very excited. I'll have a lot of job opportunities coming out of Penn. I can see it being a life-changing experience.

"I was on campus last weekend. What an amazing place. I'd been past Penn before, of course, but I never realized how large it is. And when I took a tour around the Wharton School, it's so technologically advanced. It has everything."

Harris spent his first two high school years at North Catholic before landing at Constitution.

It was 30-plus years ago that a recruited hoopster last headed to Penn from the Pub. Willie Oliphant (Northeast '80) was the 1983-84 co-captain as well as the program's top newcomer in '81 and best defender in '82 and '84.

In the mid- to late-'70s, Penn had plucked Pubbers Stanley Greene from Germantown and then Tim Smith and Vincent Ross from West Philadelphia.

New coach Jerome Allen, who grew up in Germantown, and assistant Dan Leibovitz are Episcopal Academy products.

"Penn hasn't had too many Philly guys recently. Maybe we can change that around," quipped Harris, who lives near 13th and Lehigh.

Compared with some others, Penn got wind of Harris' talents (and academic exploits; his GPA is 3.7) semi-late.

"One day I was having a talk with coach Leibovitz and he said it took a while for them to get settled with the new program," Harris said. "But he said once they knew, they knew, and that it was for sure, and that they'd be with me through this. That really stuck with me. And I appreciate it." *