Charles Harmon
Nicknames: Chuck, Charlie Fine
Career: 1947
Position: of
Team: Indianapolis Clowns
Born: April 23, 1924, Washington, Indiana
Baseball Career Highlights:
Despite playing only five game as an outfielder with the Indianapolis Clowns, before signing with the Cincinnati Reds, Harmon's experiences in organized baseball mirrored those of other Negro Leagues players in the 1940s and 1950s. In the South, he had to stay in black-only hotels and sometimes in restaurant kitchens. Even with a minor league batting average of .374 and .375 in consecutive seasons, Harmon's opportunity to play in the Majors with the Cincinnati Reds did not occur until April 18, 1954, just five days shy of his 28th birthday. "The Reds weren't ready and the time wasn't right. It's just one of those things. You've got to go with the flow," Harmon said.
Professional/Personal Accomplishments:
Harmon not only excelled in baseball, he played on two Indiana high school championship basketball teams and in the National Invitational Tournament Championship game. In addition, he was the first African American to coach in professional basketball and led the Utica, (New York) team in the Eastern League as a player/coach. Also, he was a part-time scout for the Atlanta Braves baseball club and the Indiana Pacers basketball club. Currently, Harmon is the deputy clerk/administrative assistant of the Hamilton County First District Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Awards, Honors, Titles, Championships,
Schools, Colleges:
• Two Indiana High School Basketball State Championships -
(1941, 1942)
• University of Toledo N.I.T. Final Runner-Up Championship -
1943
• College All-American in Basketball - 1943
• Signed Professional Contract With St. Louis Browns Farm
Team - 1947
• Fort Wayne (Indiana) General Electric Semi-pro National
Champion - 1948
• Grand Marshal for Cincinnati Reds Opening Day Parade - 1992
• Indiana High School Baseball Hall of Fame Inductee - 1995
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award in Racial Equality -1996
• 48th Annual Urban League of Greater Cincinnati "Glorifying
the Lions" Heritage Award - January 1997
• Jackie Robinson/Chuck Harmon Day (City of Cincinnati) - 1997
• Washington, Indiana, named a street "Harmon Drive " - 1997
• Honored by Major League Old-Timers Baseball Association -
1997
• Golf Manor, Ohio, Named a Street "Chuck Harmon Way" - 1997
• Member: University of Toledo Baseball and Basketball Halls
of Fame
• Member, Evansville, Indiana, Corridor Hall of Fame
Source: NLBM Legacy 2000 Players' Reunion Alumni Book, Kansas City Missouri: Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Inc., 2000.
Chuck Harmon