A curler since the age of 11, training at the Chinguacousy Curling Club, Mike Harris’ first major victory in the sport came in 1986, when he won the Ontario Junior Men’s Championship, and followed it up three years later with a victory at the 1989 Ontario Mixed Bonspiel. He was runner-up at the 1992 and 1993 editions of the Ontario Men’s Curling Championship, but then spent the next several years outside of the final. Therefore it was somewhat of a surprise when his rink (team) won the Olympic qualifying event and earned itself the opportunity to represent Canada at the 1998 Winter Olympics. At the tournament he skipped (captained) his rink to a silver medal, losing only to Switzerland in the final round after falling ill. The year of his return he was made a member of the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame. He has continued to be involved in curling, most notably as CBC Sports’ leading curling analyst since 2001 (alongside Joan McCusker), but is also a golf professional and has found work in that activity both at home in Toronto, Ontario and Banff, British Columbia, and abroad in Salzburg, Austria. He is also heavily involved in charitable efforts, including the organization of charity curling events and volunteering with the Special Olympics. In 2004 his rink won the year’s edition of the Ontario Men’s Curling Championship.
Canada