Beulah A. Harriss

Duane's take

The way I heard it, it comes straight off the official marker, and this one's worth every word. Here's the story of Beulah A. Harriss.

Now, it's 1914. A young woman steps off a train in Denton, Texas, having come all the way down from Nebraska with a degree in physical education from the University of Nebraska and what I can only imagine was a considerable amount of determination. Her name is Beulah A.

Harriss, and North Texas State Normal College has just hired her as its first women's physical education teacher. First. There had never been one before her.

She didn't ease into it. She coached the university's first women's athletic teams and instructed every sport offered to women, and the marker makes a point of noting just one exception: football. Everything else was fair game.

Then, in 1918, she organized the physical education department itself, built it from the ground up, and watched it grow under her direction. She also put together the green jackets club, whose purpose was to support all activities of the college. Beulah Harriss wasn't just teaching, she was building an institution.

And she wasn't content to stop at the campus edge. In 1917, she started the first Girl Scout troop at the College in Denton. The marker calls her the first recognized Girl Scout in Texas.

Let that settle for a moment. Then in 1923, she helped build the scout lodge at Hills and Hollows in South Denton. That same year, 1923, she was a founder of the Texas State Physical Education Association, the organization now known as the Texas Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

She would go on to serve as its president in 1933. The very next year, 1924, she co-founded the Texas Woman's Athletic Association. The woman had a habit of founding things.

In 1928, Harriss became one of twelve charter members of the RHO Chapter of Delta Psi Kappa at UNT, a national fraternity devoted to the promotion of interests in physical education. Thirty-two years later, in 1960, she was named its honorary national president. That same year, 1960, after forty-six years at UNT as a teacher and women's athletics activist, Beulah Harriss retired.

And then there's this: in 1936, she and twelve other professors from the college became charter members of the Denton County Teachers Federal Credit Union, the institution now known as DATCU. Even in the financial world, she was there at the beginning. Beulah A.

Harriss was born in 1889 and passed in 1977. Ten years after her death, in 1987, she was inducted into the North Texas Athletic Hall of Fame. The honor found her, even then.

She devoted her life to the youth and citizens of Denton, and the city hasn't forgotten. Every February 27th, Denton marks Beulah Harriss Day in her honor. And just near this very marker, the Girl Scout little house once stood, a quiet, lasting reminder of a woman who had a talent for showing up first and building something that would outlast her by a long, long while.

What the marker says

Beulah A. Harriss (1889-1977) moved to Denton in 1914 from Nebraska to become the first women’s physical education teacher at North Texas State Normal College, now University of North Texas (UNT). With a degree from the University of Nebraska in physical education, Harriss coached the university’s first women’s athletic teams and instructed every sport except football. She organized the physical education department in 1918, which grew under her direction, and the green jackets club, whose purpose was to support all activities of the college. Harriss was a founder in 1923 of the Texas State Physical Education Association (now Texas Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance), serving as president in 1933. She was also a founder of the Texas Woman’s Athletic Association in 1924. Established in 1928 at UNT, Harriss was one of twelve charter members of the RHO Chapter of Delta Psi Kappa, a national fraternity for the promotion of interests in the field of physical education. She was named honorary national president in 1960. The first recognized Girl Scout in Texas, Harriss started the first troop at the College in Denton in 1917. She helped build the scout lodge at hills and hollows in South Denton in 1923. Harriss and 12 other professors from the college were charter members of the Denton County Teachers Federal Credit Union in 1936, now DATCU. After 46 years at UNT as a teacher and women’s athletics activist, Harriss retired in 1960. She was inducted into the North Texas Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987, 10 years after her death. Harriss devoted her life to the youth and citizens of Denton and is remembered each February 27th on Beulah Harriss day. The Girl Scout little house stood near this site.