The ceremony has not yet taken place, but the acknowledgement has.
Larry Garloch is the newest member of the Brownstown Central High Athletic Hall of Fame, his image posted on a plaque on a wall outside the gymnasium for those who pause to take a look.
The one-time Braves star player for the boys basketball team has taken his place of honor, though he has not seen his own plaque in person just yet.
That’s because the COVID-19 pandemic, which has so up-ended daily life across the United States and the world of sports, struck again. Wise men are staying home these days, not traveling long distances. Group gatherings collecting notable crowds are on hold.
So Garloch, who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, is on hold, waiting for the time in the future — probably next winter during the next basketball season — to be adopted into the hall fraternity in a more splashy way.
Garloch is a member of the Brownstown Class of 1969 and was a tremendously successful player for the Braves after transferring from Clearspring High School after growing up in Salt Creek Township at a time when there was some school restructuring.
Garloch was initially a reluctant Brave but now is grateful to be remembered and looks forward to the day he returns to town for his induction.
“They were very special years,” Garloch said recently from North Carolina.
Garloch, who stays up to date on Brownstown and other area schools by reading scores online and newspaper stories, played at 6-foot-4 and was a tremendous scorer, one season averaging 26.2 points a game. The Braves went 18-2 his junior year and tied for the Mid-Southern Conference title.
When he graduated from Brownstown, Garloch owned six basketball records, including the single-game high of 39 points, and since he was a National Honor Society-caliber student, he was recruited by about 100 colleges.
Garloch chose Miami of Ohio and was part of two teams that won Mid-American Conference championships and qualified for the NCAA tournament.
Devoted to basketball his whole life, Garloch remembers becoming a Big Ten fan early when he was still in elementary school in the 1960s when he rooted for such stars as Indiana’s Walt Bellamy, Ohio State’s Jerry Lucas and Michigan’s Cazzie Russell.
“They were on every Saturday at 4 p.m.,” Garloch said of an era before cable television. “Once in a while, I watched UCLA at 11:30 when I could talk my dad into letting me stay up.”
As a youth, Garloch watched as much college basketball as he could, then he played well in high school and played in college. He still has many fond memories of basketball at Brownstown, such as when “six busloads of fans” followed the team to a big game.
“There was no one there who was even home,” he said of the town.
After one victory over Seymour, Garloch said students and others celebrated in a big way.
“There was a bonfire in the street after beating Seymour,” he recalled. “It was a big deal.”
When Garloch made Thanksgiving visits back to Brownstown — he met wife, Karen, at the school and they saw relatives — he used to drop in on Brownstown practices and got to know current longtime coach Dave Benter and they talked hoops.
Being selected for the Hall of Fame came as a surprise to Garloch. One day, the couple were in the car driving home from South Carolina when he received a call from Athletic Director Mark DeHart informing him of the pleasant development.
The game plan was to conduct a Hall of Fame ceremony this season with Garloch present, DeHart said.
“In a normal year, we would have had him into a game and had a presentation ceremony in front of the whole house,” DeHart said. “I didn’t see us getting this done this year. Hopefully, next year. Coming home, I think that’s the part the individuals enjoy the most.”
Garloch won three letters at Miami of Ohio and then began coaching. He became a graduate assistant at his school, coached high school ball and taught math for years in Ohio, then for a short time in North Carolina before he received a college coaching opportunity.
Before becoming a women’s basketball assistant at Davidson College, Garloch was a men’s team coach between 1988 and 1996, the program that produced Stephen Curry as an alumnus.
“I can’t take any credit for that,” Garloch joked about not having a role in the NBA star’s college recruitment.
So there is no reason to expect Curry as a guest when Garloch’s ceremony does take place in Brownstown. But Garloch does have one request: He would like it to take place during a game against Seymour.