30 Mar 2025 501 Hometown Hall of Famers: Coach Cliff Garrison
By David Grimes
As successful as Cliff Garrison was at coaching basketball at Hendrix College, his life off the court is even more remarkable.
Garrison was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF) in 2004 as part of the 46th class, along with Jesse Branch, Bud Campbell, Bud Canada, Steve Cox, Bill “Bull” Davidson, Wayne Martin, J.P. Moore and Wendy Scholtens.
A Forrest City native, Garrison received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Arkansas State Teachers College, now the University of Central Arkansas. He played basketball for the Bears in the early 1960s under Head Coach Cliff Horton, also an ASHOF inductee.
Garrison coached at Stuttgart High School in the late 1960s and led the Ricebirds to three state tournaments and was twice selected to coach in the high school all-star game.
Fellow ASHOF Coach Don Dyer brought Garrison into the college ranks as an assistant at Henderson State University. Garrison soon earned his own head coaching position when he took over at Hendrix in 1972. He would stay there for 31 seasons, winning 463 games.
His teams won five Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) championships, the school’s first since the 1930s, and his Warriors qualified for the NAIA national tournament in 1985. Three times he was named AIC Coach of the Year and was twice bestowed that honor for the NAIA District 17.
The following description is an overused cliché, but Garrison is indeed one of the finest men you’ll ever meet. That applies to his entire family as well. He and his wife, Maribeth, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in March 2024. They are among my favorite people. I attended Conway High School with both of their children. Their son, Greg, was a year older, and their daughter, Lee, a year younger. The apples did not fall far from the tree.
Coach Garrison added the title of athletic director for Hendrix in 1992 when Bob Courtway retired. About that time, the AIC was breaking up. UCA left the NAIA for NCAA Division II (they have since moved to NCAA Division I), while Hendrix opted for NCAA Division III. Athletic scholarships are not a part of this classification, but Hendrix officials knew many of their peer-academic schools participated on this level.
The Warriors accepted an invitation into the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, and Coach Garrison immediately had them competitive. His teams qualified for the NCAA national tournament in 1995 and 1996. He was named SCAC coach of the year for the 1994-95 season.
After retiring from coaching in 2003, Garrison remained at Hendrix as a professor of kinesiology and has continued to be involved in athletic fundraising for the school.
A good part of his exceptional success at Hendrix was local, as he was able to recruit a long line of Conway Wampus Cat stars. It began with Winton Mattison and included Andy Balenton, Lawson Pilgrim, Austin Sullivan, T.J. Ticey, Herman Hammons, Robert Wright, Nick Lasker, Carlos Brown, Brian Longing, Rick Robertson, Nathan Tumlison, Harvell Howard, and his son, Greg.
St. Joseph Bulldog standouts Alan Meyer and twins Keith and Kevin Briggler also became Warriors. All told, 29 of Garrison’s 31 teams featured at least one player with Conway ties.
His impact on his players was profound. “A lot of guys would agree with me when I say that Coach Garrison is an excellent example of integrity and honesty,” former player Harvell Howard said. “He didn’t just teach basketball. He taught me so much more about life in general.”
Garrison coached his home games in the old Grove Gymnasium. When the school replaced it with the new Wellness and Athletic Center, better known as the WAC, the facility’s basketball floor was named Cliff Garrison Court in his honor.
He has been inducted into the Forrest City Hall of Fame, the UCA Sports Hall of Fame and, of course, the Hendrix Sports Hall of Honor.
When speaking about Garrison for his ASHOF induction, fellow Hendrix legend and ASHOF inductee J.W. “Chick” Austin summed it up best: “He is the kind of man you want to be when you are a little boy, and the kind of man you wish you had been when you are an old man.”
