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CHARLES B. (CHUCK) HARMON
6035 A. RIDGE ACRE DRIVE
CINCINNATI, OHIO 45237
TELEPHONE: (513) 631-4369

Charles Harmon, is one of twelve children born to Sherman and Rosa Harmon on April 23, 1924, in Washington, Indiana where he completed his elementary and secondary education.

He attended the University of Toledo - for 3 %Z years between 1942 and 1949, with an interruption for service in the U.S. Navy for 3 years, which ended with an honorable discharge.

Chuck has been married to Daurel Woodley Harmon for 54 years and has three children, Charlene, Charles Jr. and Cheryl. He also has two grandchildren, Dannielle and Justin.

Harmon's most prestigious honor was when the City of Cincinnati honored Jackie Robinson/Chuck Harmon Day on May 15, 1997, at Cinergy Field on Jackie Robinson's 50th Anniversary for breaking the Major League color barrier. It also doubled as the golden anniversary for Harmon who signed his first pro baseball contract in 1947, en route to breaking the Cincinnati Reds' color barrier seven years later.

"We all came in," says Harmon, "on his (Robinson's] coattails." But Harmon is most readily recognized for what he did in 1954, and continued to do for ten years. When baseball saluted Robinson's 40th anniversary, Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis told ABC's Nightline that minorities may lack the "necessities" for baseball management. That statement shifted the country's focus onto African-American ballplayers, what they went through and what they are going through, something Harmon well knew. Like Jackie Robinson, Harmon knew what it took, to make it possible for others after him to maintain a place in organized ball and in life.

Other athletic endeavors are:

College All-American in basketball

Naval baseball and basketball teams at Great Lakes, Illinois in 1943-1945

Baseball with Ft. Wayne General Electric Semi-Pro National Champs in 1948

Indianapolis Clowns Baseball Team in 1947 (briefly)

Signed a pro contract with St. Louis Browns Farm Team latter part of 1947

After being cut from the NBA Boston Celtics in the 1951 pre-season, Harmon became player-coach with Utica, New York Basketball Club in the Eastern League. According to Dan Parker, columnist for the New York Daily News, Chuck was the first African-American professional coach in any sport of a mixed pro team.

Harmon also played four years of baseball in the winter league in Puerto Rico in 1953 and 1955 and in the Dominican Republic in 1958 and 1959.

Harmon has been a part-time scout in baseball with the Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves, and, in basketball with the ABA Indiana Pacers from 1970-71. He was Recreational Director of the Boys Job Corps in Cincinnati from 1970-72, before taking a job as Baseball National Promotion Manager with MacGregor Sporting Goods Company of Cincinnati from 1972-75.

In the early 1960's, Harmon had a Little League baseball park, named "Harmon Field," dedicated in his honor in his hometown of Washington, Indiana.

Chuck Harmon has worked with the First Appellate District Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, as Administrative Assistant for the past 25 years.