Rocky Harris was a young public relations staffer with the San Francisco 49ers when he took the chance of his brief professional life. The 49ers’ temperamental receiver, Terrell Owens, was mired in controversy after the infamous incident where he stomped on the Dallas Cowboys’ star at midfield. He didn’t want to talk to the media; he didn’t want to talk to anyone. So Harris decided one day to approach Owens, who sat at his locker with his head down.

“Look, Terrell, I’m here to get you to talk to the media,” Harris said. “My job is to make you look good and if you give me a chance, I won’t let you down.”

Owens agreed. It was a breakthrough moment for Harris that helped launch his career in PR and eventually the revenue side of the business, which is what he does now as COO of the Arizona State athletic department.

“I was clear, direct and straightforward,” Harris says now. “That’s an approach that I think works with most anyone.”

Harris’ stints with the 49ers and the MLS Houston Dynamo exposed him to the ins and outs of professional sports. And then came the chance to return home. He grew up in Tempe, just a mile or two away from the Sun Devils’ football stadium and his alma mater. Under Ray Anderson, ASU’s athletic director, Harris has played an instrumental role in the school taking its multimedia rights in-house; adding varsity sports; managing the collection of fan data, which has led to record-breaking fundraising; and renovating Sun Devil Stadium.

“In college athletics, we haven’t really fully evolved our business model,” Harris said. “We’ve got to keep trying new things. To me, the most exciting thing about my job is taking risks and trying new ideas.”

The next challenge in front of Harris is the pursuit of his doctorate at ASU in community resources and development. Within that focus, Harris said he wants to study how communities use sports facilities to create a greater social impact that extends beyond the stadium.

— Michael Smith