Photo by: ©WFU/Ken Bennett
Deacon Sports Xtra: Harber Found Second Home at Wake Forest
9/20/2022 11:52:00 AM | Track and Field, Les Johns
Location, perfect size, excellent academics and ability to run track — Wake Forest checked all the boxes for Raymond Harbert; so much so that he ended up applying at just one school.
"It felt right," Harbert said about the tour of campus. "It was comfortable and felt like home. It was one of those moments where everything made sense. It ended up working out and that's how I ended up going to Wake Forest."
Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, Harbert knew he was looking for something different than his high school peers.
"I wanted to go out of state," he said. "Most of my graduating class were going to Auburn, Alabama or Ole Miss. I wanted to do something different. My dad was the one who did a lot of college tours with me and my siblings."
His father, Raymond Harbert Sr. out of the blue said, "What about Wake Forest?"
Having the ability to run track, something that Harbert Jr. had just started in the 10th grade, was in the back of his mind, and he figured he might not have that opportunity at larger state schools.
If I had gone somewhere bigger, that might not have been possible," he said. "I'd always been studious. With the quality of students around me, I knew I was going to have to work harder than I did during high school. I'd always wanted to do something in the business field. The business school was a draw for me.
"The size was perfect for me. It wasn't too small, but there weren't 25,000 students either. The friends I made during my time were invaluable, both on the track team and in the classroom."
When he got on campus and met the Wake Forest track and field coaching staff, they allowed him a chance to walk onto the team.
He was able to find ways to contribute early, and as a freshman in 2003 was part of the 4x100m relay team that finished fourth at the ACC Championships.
"That was awesome," Harbert said. "We missed out on third by 0.11 seconds. After earning a spot as a freshman, we started to gain some depth. I got to compete, but I was never really scoring points at meets.
"Being part of the team was incredible and then ending my career with the ACC Championships at Wake Forest. That was a fun way to go out. The men's team finished third in 2006, and that was the highest they'd finished in years."
During his Wake Forest journey, Harbert also found the love of his life. He met Cole as a sophomore, and they got married right after graduating.
"That was big in the trajectory of my life," he said.
As it turns out, they returned to Wake Forest just a couple years later so he could pursue his MBA. He became a Double Deac, earning a Master of Business Administration and a BS in Finance, before moving back to Birmingham to join Harbert Management Corporation, where he began as an associate in private equity.
He moved into back office focusing on finance and operations in 2014 and was elected to the Board of Directors just three years later.
In recent years, Harbert has become increasingly more involved in giving back to Wake Forest Athletics — specifically to the Track and Field program.
In 2014, Harbert took a spot on the Athletic Advisory Council of the Deacon Club, tasked with getting more people involved in the athletics dept and Deacon Club.
"I hadn't been to Wake Forest in three or four years, and it became a really fun way to re-engage with (associate athletic director) Mike (Piscetelli), the athletic department and Wake Forest in general," Harbert explained. "We have twice-a-year meetings which are usually centered around a football or basketball game. It was great to walk around the campus again."
He's been particularly impressed with John Hayes, Wake Forest director of track & field and cross country.
"He's done a great job of engaging with alumni and in getting people involved," Harbert said. "He has a good strategy. He's done a great job of staying in touch with me. He's done a great job of building the program. It doesn't happen overnight, so it's great to see the incremental improvement each year."
After seeing the commitment to the program, Harbert insisted on doing his part to help provide the Wake Forest experience to the next generation of track and field stars.
"After re-engaging, my wife and I wanted to do something for the track team," he said. "There's all this building going on across the university, especially with football and basketball. I'm a track guy. They took a chance on me and let me hang around.
"We ended up giving money for a scholarship, which is a way we've been involved. There's been varying degrees of involvement, just depending on time and how outgoing that particular student-athlete is who receives the scholarship."
The facility improvements over the last decade has been awe-inspiring to Harbert and he understands it's vital to help recruit the best talent from across the country to Wake Forest.
"Even when we were there from 2008-10 in business school, none of that had happened yet," Harbert said. "Even the new business school building was after we left. But the new McCreary Field House, the weight room and the new track and field locker room are all awesome.
"You see the arms race in collegiate athletics, and it's great to see that Wake Forest has kept up with it. Along the way it kept the small, intimate feel. You want to recruit the best athletes for all sports, but it takes a certain kind of student to succeed and want to be at Wake Forest."
Because track and field isn't a revenue-generating sport, it has a set of challenges that are much different than that of basketball and football.
"Giving one specifically to one for men's track and field was important to me," Harbert said. "I want it to help the program find the athletes they need to compete. I've also been involved in other campaigns with the Sports Performance Center and the locker room for the football program. I love Wake Forest.
"My faith is an important part of my life. It's interesting to see this whole trajectory. I couldn't have planned much of this. It has ended up being this great story of being able to run at Wake Forest and build all these relationships with people I would have never met if I hadn't run track or gone to Wake Forest. It's exciting to see."
"It felt right," Harbert said about the tour of campus. "It was comfortable and felt like home. It was one of those moments where everything made sense. It ended up working out and that's how I ended up going to Wake Forest."
Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, Harbert knew he was looking for something different than his high school peers.
"I wanted to go out of state," he said. "Most of my graduating class were going to Auburn, Alabama or Ole Miss. I wanted to do something different. My dad was the one who did a lot of college tours with me and my siblings."
His father, Raymond Harbert Sr. out of the blue said, "What about Wake Forest?"
Having the ability to run track, something that Harbert Jr. had just started in the 10th grade, was in the back of his mind, and he figured he might not have that opportunity at larger state schools.
If I had gone somewhere bigger, that might not have been possible," he said. "I'd always been studious. With the quality of students around me, I knew I was going to have to work harder than I did during high school. I'd always wanted to do something in the business field. The business school was a draw for me.
"The size was perfect for me. It wasn't too small, but there weren't 25,000 students either. The friends I made during my time were invaluable, both on the track team and in the classroom."
When he got on campus and met the Wake Forest track and field coaching staff, they allowed him a chance to walk onto the team.
He was able to find ways to contribute early, and as a freshman in 2003 was part of the 4x100m relay team that finished fourth at the ACC Championships.
"That was awesome," Harbert said. "We missed out on third by 0.11 seconds. After earning a spot as a freshman, we started to gain some depth. I got to compete, but I was never really scoring points at meets.
"Being part of the team was incredible and then ending my career with the ACC Championships at Wake Forest. That was a fun way to go out. The men's team finished third in 2006, and that was the highest they'd finished in years."
During his Wake Forest journey, Harbert also found the love of his life. He met Cole as a sophomore, and they got married right after graduating.
"That was big in the trajectory of my life," he said.
As it turns out, they returned to Wake Forest just a couple years later so he could pursue his MBA. He became a Double Deac, earning a Master of Business Administration and a BS in Finance, before moving back to Birmingham to join Harbert Management Corporation, where he began as an associate in private equity.
He moved into back office focusing on finance and operations in 2014 and was elected to the Board of Directors just three years later.
In recent years, Harbert has become increasingly more involved in giving back to Wake Forest Athletics — specifically to the Track and Field program.
In 2014, Harbert took a spot on the Athletic Advisory Council of the Deacon Club, tasked with getting more people involved in the athletics dept and Deacon Club.
"I hadn't been to Wake Forest in three or four years, and it became a really fun way to re-engage with (associate athletic director) Mike (Piscetelli), the athletic department and Wake Forest in general," Harbert explained. "We have twice-a-year meetings which are usually centered around a football or basketball game. It was great to walk around the campus again."
He's been particularly impressed with John Hayes, Wake Forest director of track & field and cross country.
"He's done a great job of engaging with alumni and in getting people involved," Harbert said. "He has a good strategy. He's done a great job of staying in touch with me. He's done a great job of building the program. It doesn't happen overnight, so it's great to see the incremental improvement each year."
After seeing the commitment to the program, Harbert insisted on doing his part to help provide the Wake Forest experience to the next generation of track and field stars.
"After re-engaging, my wife and I wanted to do something for the track team," he said. "There's all this building going on across the university, especially with football and basketball. I'm a track guy. They took a chance on me and let me hang around.
"We ended up giving money for a scholarship, which is a way we've been involved. There's been varying degrees of involvement, just depending on time and how outgoing that particular student-athlete is who receives the scholarship."
The facility improvements over the last decade has been awe-inspiring to Harbert and he understands it's vital to help recruit the best talent from across the country to Wake Forest.
"Even when we were there from 2008-10 in business school, none of that had happened yet," Harbert said. "Even the new business school building was after we left. But the new McCreary Field House, the weight room and the new track and field locker room are all awesome.
"You see the arms race in collegiate athletics, and it's great to see that Wake Forest has kept up with it. Along the way it kept the small, intimate feel. You want to recruit the best athletes for all sports, but it takes a certain kind of student to succeed and want to be at Wake Forest."
Because track and field isn't a revenue-generating sport, it has a set of challenges that are much different than that of basketball and football.
"Giving one specifically to one for men's track and field was important to me," Harbert said. "I want it to help the program find the athletes they need to compete. I've also been involved in other campaigns with the Sports Performance Center and the locker room for the football program. I love Wake Forest.
"My faith is an important part of my life. It's interesting to see this whole trajectory. I couldn't have planned much of this. It has ended up being this great story of being able to run at Wake Forest and build all these relationships with people I would have never met if I hadn't run track or gone to Wake Forest. It's exciting to see."
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