About Michael Harris
The SteelMike Shootout was started in 2015 to continue the work of Michael Harris, a man who had committed much of his life to promoting mental wellness among adolescents and emerging adults. Both personally and professionally, he was dedicated to helping others with kindness, compassion, and thoughtfulness.
Michael playing as a senior on the Menlo School Varsity basketball team in 2008.
He lived his life every day sharing kindness, loving his family, caring for others, and embracing fun, all with a constant smile and an unassuming gracious warmth. He was fun, funny, and always there for those in his community with listening, words of understanding and support, empathy, and guidance. His love of both life and of people were contagious, and many of his peers have credited him for making them better versions of themselves. This was a man always destined to commit his life to the mental health of adolescents.
The most important things in his life were family, friends, supporting others around him, and basketball - a sport he played competitively throughout his life and coached middle and high schoolers across the Bay Area. Beyond playing and coaching sports, he was an obnoxiously avid sports fan — cheering the Warriors, Niners, and Giants any moment he could.
Michael and the Menlo team celebrating their Central Coast Section championship in 2007.
7th grade teammates and lifelong friends, Alex Curtis, Matt Bouret, Michael, Max Frye 2003
Michael was born and raised in the Bay Area, attending Philips Brooks Elementary and later Menlo School. He went on to graduate from the University of San Diego with a B.A. in Developmental Psychology and a minor in English. He joined the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and worked as a research assistant for the University's Psychology department where he won awards for his contribution. He went on to complete his master's in Counseling Psychology from Santa Clara University, and with great enthusiasm joined the mental health counseling faculty at his alma mater, Menlo School. He surely was to make a huge impact in the profession, with his focus on helping adolescents and families.
Family at a cousin’s wedding in June 2015, just three months before he passed away.
Michael passed away in 2015 in a tragic boating accident. He left behind joyous memories for so many that he touched, particularly his parents Jan and Peter, his brothers David and Richard, with whom he had an especially close bond, and the love of his life, Kelly Wells. Those who knew Michael really loved him, and just as important, they really liked him. This was a young man who was real, sincere, a great listener, always interested, full of humor with the attendant laughter, smart, and who absolutely embraced life.
About the Michael Harris Fund at CHC
In 2016, friends and family of Michael Harris created the SteelMike Shootout 3-on-3 basketball tournament to raise funds for Children’s Health Council. Michael Harris was passionate about helping everyone around him which led him to a career in adolescent psychology at Menlo School. The Michael Harris Fund at CHC continues Michael’s legacy by supporting adolescent mental health services at CHC. The mission of the Michael Harris Fund at CHC is to increase awareness, connect those in need to specialized help, remove stigma, and ultimately reduce teen depression and suicide in our local community.
Make a Gift to the Michael Harris Fund at CHC
Help support CHC's comprehensive adolescent mental health services and Michael's legacy.
