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Charles (Chuck) Harmon won varsity letters in basketball and baseball in 1943, 1947, and 1948. After his first year with the Rockets, Harmon joined the Navy for a three-year stint. In 1946, he returned to Toledo and didn't miss a beat. Harmon was awarded co-captain during the 1947-49 seasons. He was the second leading scorer for three straight years and helped propel the Rockets into the championship game of the National Invitational Tournament in 1943. He scored 728 career points and averaged nearly 13 points per game. Although rebounding statistics were not kept during his time, newspaper reports repeatedly referred to him as one of the best rebounders on the team. He was named All- Midwest by Collegiate Magazine and won second team All-Ohio honors in basketball.
One newspaper account indicates he hit .429 during the 1947 season. After leaving Toledo, he played professionally in the major leagues with the Cincinnati Reds, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Philadelphia Phillies through the 1958 season. Harmon was Cincinnati's first African American player who saw actual field time for the organization. He earned his nickname "the glove" due to the fact he could play any position and had a special glove for each one of them.
In 1951-52, Harmon spent his time as a player-coach for a professional basketball team in Utica, N.Y., making him the first African American to coach an integrated professional team. Harmon settled in Indianapolis, where he operated a service station until 1969. He eventually joined MacGregor Athletic Products as the national baseball promotions manager and moved to Cincinnati. Along with coaching, Harmon was a part-time scout for the Indiana Pacers in the early 1970s. He also worked as a scout for the Cleveland Indians and the Atlanta Braves before beginning his career as an administrative assistant for the Hamilton County Court System in Cincinnati, Ohio. Harmon was inducted into the Indiana baseball Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2014, Harmon was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame as the recipient of the Powel Crosley Jr. Award.
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