Doug Harris’ career as a documentary filmmaker dates back to 1999 and evolved through his years of work as the executive director of Athletes United for Peace, where he developed and managed the nonprofit organization’s media division. His background in sports includes being named to the NAIA All-America team while a forward at Central Washington University, and being selected in the 1983 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors.
Being a former player and coach helped to shape Harris’ philosophy of team building within the filmmaking process. Doug’s primary focus as an accomplished producer/director has been to bring intriguing untold stories to life through a warm and unique style of documentary storytelling. Throughout his filmmaking career, Doug has had the opportunity to work with some of the most celebrated legends in the history of American sports.
In 2010, Doug teamed with Comcast SportsNet/NBC Universal to produce the critically acclaimed documentary OUT: The Glenn Burke Story, about Major League Baseball’s first openly gay player. Burke, a pioneer in the national LGBT community, played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland A’s in the late 1970s before being banned from the game because of his off-field sexual preference. OUT was nominated for an Emmy Award for “Best Documentary” by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in San Francisco and was also nominated for the national G.L.A.A.D. Media Award for “Outstanding Documentary”.
Harris’ 2007 lm, BOUNCE: The Don Barksdale Story, helped to raise national awareness about the monumental achievements made by the legendary African American sports and entertainment pioneer. Barksdale was considered by many as the Jackie Robinson of basketball in the 1940s and 1950s. The 6’6’’ native of Berkeley was the first African-American selected to the NCAA college basketball All-America team (UCLA 1947), the first to compete on the U.S. Olympic basketball team and win a gold medal (London 1948), and the first selected to play in an NBA All-Star game (1953 Boston Celtics). The FOX Sports Net documentary received the 2008 Beacon Award for cable television’s “Best Single Program” from the Association of Cable Communicators.
Doug’s 2016 documentary, Basketball Guru: The Pete Newell Story, is about the legendary coach who had the biggest impact on the sport over the span of seven decades. Harris’ masterpiece is one of the greatest untold basketball stories of all time that features a cast of some of the greatest legends who tell in-depth stories of how Pete Newell impacted their lives and careers in college and professional basketball. The lm features Hall of Famers Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Pat Riley, Bill Walton, Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Jerry Colangelo and many others. Basketball Guru aired February 2016 on Comcast SportsNet/NBC Universal stations.
Doug Harris (left) and Raymond Bell at work producing
Harris’ other 2016 documentary, FAIR LEGISLATION, takes a close look into the life California Assemblyman and civil rights pioneer Byron Rumford, who was state’s first African American legislator from Northern California. 
Rumford, who served in the assembly from 1948 to 1966, authored landmark legislation that included the Fair Employment Act (1959), and the highly controversial Rumford Fair Housing Act (1963). His Fair Housing Act was repealed in 1964 by California Proposition 14, then was re-instated in 1967 by the U.S. Supreme Court. The acclaimed film is Harris’s first political documentary and aired on PBS stations throughout California and across the country.