James Harris, known to WWE fans as the Ugandan Warrior Kamala, was confirmed to have had the coronavirus (COVID-19) when he passed away, with the official cause of death being cardiac arrest.

Jason King of Bleacher Report tweeted that he spoke to Harris' wife, Emmer Jean, who believes he contracted the illness while visiting a dialysis center, which he did weekly. His family placed him in a hospital last Wednesday when he tested positive, and he "seemed fine" and was "in good spirits." However, he went into cardiac arrest on Sunday afternoon and passed away.

In a GoFundMe set up to help Harris's family, the cause of death listed is "complications from diabetes" and also points out how Emmer Jean had quit working 10 years ago to remain home to help Harris after he lost both of his legs (he had his left leg amputated in November 2011 due to high blood pressure complications due to his diabetes, and his right was amputated just five months later).

In November 2017, Harris was placed on life support after emergency surgery but recovered from that incident.

Born in Senatobia, Mississippi in May of 1950, Harris began his professional wrestling career in 1978 under the ring name "Sugar Bear" Harris. In 1982, Harris was offered a job at the Continental Wrestling Association by Lawler, who was a promoter at the time. The character of Kimala (later changed to Kamala) -- who was billed from Uganda -- was then developed by Harris, Lawler and CWA founder Jerry Jarrett. After wrestling for organizations like CWA, Mid-South Wrestling and World Class Championship Wrestling, Harris made his WWF debut as Kamala in 1984 and began feuding with the likes of Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant.

Throughout the '80s and early '90s, Harris left and returned to WWF multiple times, wrestling for other promotions in the interim. He briefly performed for WCW in 1995 (while he was semi-retired) and was even the one who suggested Hulk Hogan join the company. Harris went on to make various appearances as Kamala for WWF/WWE in the 2000s. His final WWE appearance came in 2006, though he continued working the independent circuit until 2010.