Chris Garmon

Garmon was a standout athlete in three sports at White Plains High School. In football, he performed double duty as the Wildcats’ safety on defense and was a two-year starter at quarterback. In 1980, his junior season, Garmon passed for more than 1,200 yards while playing full-time at safety. As a senior, he led the Wildcats to a 7-3 record. 

In basketball, Garmon regularly scored in double figures while playing on some of coach Isaiah Evans’ most successful teams. 

Baseball was his true calling. He started at second base for coach Rusty Burroughs as an eighth-grader in 1977. Tim Brown became Garmon’s  coach in 1980. Following his junior baseball season that year, the coaches picked just one all-county team for all four classes. Garmon earned honorable mention recognition as an infielder. 

The coaches picked just one all-county baseball team following Garmon’s senior season as well. This time he received first-team recognition. 

As a senior, Garmon was one of 11 players named to the Calhoun County all-star team that defeated the Talladega County all-stars 7-5. He earned one of four positions for Calhoun County players in an East-West all-star baseball game in Decatur.  

Garmon received a baseball scholarship to Jacksonville State. After what he later termed a good freshman season, Garmon told JSU coach Rudy Abbott he was giving up baseball and giving up his scholarship. Garmon asked Abbott to allow him to return to the team in 1984. 

Abbott agreed but there would be no scholarship. Paying his own way, Garmon earned NCAA Division II second-team All-American recognition as a sophomore by hitting .424 with 10 doubles, 13 home runs, and a team-high 58 RBIs.     

Garmon began his junior season as Jacksonville State’s first baseman. Injuries forced Abbott to play Garmon at second base, shortstop, third base and even catcher. The Gamecocks were 19-21-1 that year, their first losing season under Abbott.   

In 1986, Jacksonville State was 46-12 and earned a place in the Division II playoffs. In Garmon’s final college at-bat he stroked a two-run single and finished with 78 RBIs, breaking the previous Gulf South Conference record of 76. 

Garmon became JSU baseball’s first two-time Division II baseball All-American after the 1986 season. This time he was a first-team choice. He hit .460 with 17 doubles, 21 home runs and 78 RBIs. 

Garmon’s career batting average was .426. He won Alabama Sports Writers Association's Small College Athlete of the Year Award for 1986. 

In the 1990-91 school year, Garmon was an assistant football coach at Piedmont under George Hoblitzell and head baseball coach. He was named Calhoun County’s Class 1A-3A baseball coach of the year.  

He left Piedmont for Southside the next school year. In 1994, he was hired as the head football coach at Crossville. His Crossville teams reached the playoffs seven times in his nine seasons at Crossville and went 70-33. Garmon moved to Sardis and stayed seven years, 2003 through 2009, with five playoff appearances and a 40-36 record. 

Garmon died March 31, 2023.