The Harrington Family Foundation

By Dan Uthman

It was a 1911 Baldwin upright. Katie McNamara played it every week in Boise, providing the musical accompaniment to silent films in one of the city's downtown movie houses. Although it fit snugly against the wall, it had the soundboard of a grand piano, providing a rich tone that could fill a theater.

McNamara was 20 years old when she scraped together enough money to buy it. It cost her $300.

She held on to the piano after the silent film era ended, eventually handing it down to her daughter, Madeline. Madeline lent it to Bishop Kelly High School and later reacquired it. Years later, Madeline handed it down to her son, John Harrington.

When he married in 1977, Harrington and his wife, Valerie, put it in the living room of their house in Northeast Portland.

It was there, a half-century after his maternal great-grandmother had played it beneath a silver screen, that Joey Harrington first laid his fingers on the piano.

A family photo shows him standing on his toes, a football resting at his feet. He was 2 years old.

"He could barely reach the keys," said Valerie Harrington, Joey's mother. "But I do believe people are either born with the gift of music or not. It was apparent early on that he loved to play the piano."

Although he spends much of his time throwing passes and studying playbooks as a third-year quarterback for the Detroit Lions, Joey Harrington still plays piano, often on bigger stages than his family's home. One night he'll be at the Rose Garden, performing the national anthem before a Blazers game. Another he'll sit in with Blues Traveler in front of 1,500 people and television cameras at the Crystal Ballroom.

Harrington is likely to take the stage again Thursday, when he is the host of his second annual concert benefiting the Harrington Family Foundation and Shriners Children's Hospital. Up to 3,000 spectators will be at Pioneer Courthouse Square to see Third Eye Blind, the Pat McGee Band and perhaps, Harrington.

"If they think they can work me in, I'd love to play a song or two with them," he said.

Harrington had planned to be a quiet observer when Blues Traveler headlined the first concert last year, but he couldn't resist sitting down during the midafternoon soundcheck. He joined in as lead vocalist John Popper and the band ran through a version of The Steve Miller Band's "The Joker," and before long it had morphed into seven songs.

Harrington came onstage after intermission of the actual concert and stayed on for the rest of the show. "John said he was surprised," Harrington said. "In his words, he expected me to suck."

Many Portlanders at the Crystal Ballroom that night knew Harrington had played in front of crowds before, and not just on the football fields of Portland, the University of Oregon and Detroit. Beginning in sixth grade, Harrington was part of a jazz trio that played assorted gigs, including Christmas parties and even a bank opening.

Jazz marked a new stage of Harrington's musical evolution. Harrington had spent one year in the Suzuki method at age 5, and he learned to read music during lessons from the first through fifth grades. In the sixth grade, he turned to jazz under Gordon Lee, an expert on musical theory and jazz improvisation.

Lee recalled that a few things immediately stood out when he met Harrington, who was then 12. Harrington, Lee said, was deeply interested in playing Elvis Presley songs, and his left hand, the one that plays the rolling bass line, was highly developed.

"He was very talented," Lee said, "and it's interesting, I had no idea he was going to become this great athlete, but his left hand was very strong."

Lee was the protagonist in an oft-told story as Harrington developed into an NFL quarterback. Harrington was such a good piano player, the story goes, that his teacher once told him he should pursue the instrument and give up football. Lee, an avid follower of Harrington's football career, laughs when he hears it.

"I did tell him, 'You know you could get hurt playing football. Piano's probably a lot safer,' " Lee said. "Fortunately, he avoided my advice."

Harrington's talent allowed him to pursue both. Although he was a student at All Saints School, he was accepted into the jazz band at Fernwood Middle School during his junior high years, and he remained part of his trio during high school. He played the national anthem at his graduation from Central Catholic High School, and he took a few lessons through the music school as a college student in Eugene.

By the time Harrington entered college, however, age was wearing on the old Baldwin. A tuner who had worked on it for years said, "It's going through its death throes. We can't tune it anymore." It could be restored, the tuner said, but at a cost of thousands of dollars.

Although the piano wasn't playable, John and Valerie didn't want to part with such an heirloom, so their sister and brother-in-law put it in mothballs for them. John and Valerie bought a new piano, which remains in their home today.

But two years ago, the old Baldwin gained new life.

"As luck would have it," Valerie said, "Joey became rather self-sufficient and he had it restored."

Joey planned for the piano to be shipped to his residence in Michigan when the restoration was complete. But he and his family made sure two things happened before it went East.

First, Joey's grandmother Madeline, who died in March, was able to see it again in its original glory.

Then they engraved a bronze plaque and placed it inside the piano. It reads: In Loving Memory of Katie McNamara.

"A wonderful, wonderful gift," Valerie said.