John Harrell entered Oklahoma A&M University on a wrestling scholarship in 1937 after winning the state championship for Ardmore High School at 185 pounds in 1935. He won the NCAA heavyweight championship and the world amateur championship in 1939.

Though not the biggest or quickest man in the heavyweight bracket, he was blessed with such incredible upper body and grip strength that once he got his hands on an opponent, it was pretty much all over. He worked summers in the oilfields of southern Oklahoma where the back-breaking work to others was a light workout for him.

He entered the United States Naval Academy in 1940 with several others from Oklahoma A&M, following their beloved wrestling coach. After exhausting his collegiate wrestling eligibility, he was cajoled into joining Navy's football program where, though having never played before, he rapidly developed into a blocking back, starring in Navy's victories over arch rival West Point each year he played.

Adding to his athletic prowess, he was also an academic and military star at Annapolis, commanding one of the two Battalions his final year. He was passionate in his love for the Navy and the Academy, visiting there many times in later years.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, his class at Annapolis was accelerated, and he graduated a year early in June 1942 with a degree in electrical engineering and was commissioned as an ensign, United States Navy. He married his high school sweetheart, Jean, later that month.

Though selected and qualified for flight training, he was initially assigned to the gunnery division aboard the USS Boston, CA-69, and served in the Pacific Theater of WWII supporting amphibious operations against Japanese held islands.

Finally transferred into the flight training pipeline in March of 1944, he underwent preliminary training at the Naval Air Station, Grand Prairie, Texas. Transitioning to Pensacola, he rapidly advanced and received his wings of gold piloting the new Chance Vought F4U Corsair, the preeminent carrier-based fighter plane of WWII. His squadron deployed on the USS Princeton, CV-37, out of Pearl Harbor, but did not arrive in theater until after the Japanese surrender. To the great relief of Jean and infant daughter, Marcia, he saw no combat as a pilot.

Leaving the Navy after the war, he returned to Ardmore and began working for his father-in-law, Sam McDaniel, in the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Ardmore, rising over the years to the position of general manager.

Upon the death of Mr. McDaniel in 1966, Harrell oversaw the expansion into new product lines and saw the business grow and flourish until selling the firm in the early 1980s. Harrell remained an avid aviator his entire life, owning and piloting a series of small planes until he voluntarily surrendered his pilot's license at age 86.