Norman Harris,who has died aged 75, was more than just a noted sportswriter – he was a sporting activist who gave momentum to the jogging boom in the 1970s. He even claimed to have coined the word jogger. Typically, and it amused Norman rather than annoyed him that others disputed this. He reckoned he introduced the word in the modern Zealand Herald in 1962 when he called a group of middle-aged runners,who were in search of a name, the Auckland Joggers’ Club. He liked the opinion that he had started a semantic argument.
Youngest of five children of Edward and Ruby Harris, and Norman grew up on a farm near Ngaruawahia,modern Zealand, attended Hamilton high school and briefly went to Auckland University before abandoning his parents plans for him to recede into teaching in favour of taking up a radio copywriter’s job. He joined the modern Zealand Herald in 1959.
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Source: theguardian.com