WATCH: Brevard Healthcare Visionary Larry Garrison Earned Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award

Larry Garrison’s life contributions and achievements, and his character, are such to which we should all aspire

WATCH: Larry Garrison’s love of sports, advocacy of Space Coast sports and his ongoing support of community fitness through Health First’s fitness centers earned him a place as a founding member of the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame review board at its inception in 2011.

Larry Garrison’s love of sports, advocacy of Space Coast sports and his ongoing support of community fitness through Health First’s fitness centers earned him a place as a founding member of the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame review board at its inception in 2011.

In the 1990s, Larry Garrison was the primary support for the very successful Prep All-Star series and was also instrumental in launching live radio broadcasts of high school sports

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – An award that celebrates a lifetime of achievement recognizes an individual’s sustained, exceptional performance and significant contributions over an extended period of time. Lifetime achievement awards are most often bestowed for accomplishments in one specific field or industry.

However, the 2021 Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award recipient’s impact on our community represents a broad brushstroke of intimately related and vital aspects of our lives: Health, Fitness and Sport.

Larry Garrison lost his courageous two-and-a-half-year battle with cancer in 2020, and the Space Coast lost one of its most esteemed community leaders, healthcare visionaries and sports ambassadors.

Garrison moved to Brevard in 1973 to take the helm of the administration of Cape Canaveral Hospital and ended up taking on much more than just a job. “I fell in love with Brevard County,” he said.

Over the following decades, his commitment to the community played out in the development of what’s now Health First, the integrated healthcare delivery network that our community has come to trust and depend on.

COMMUNITY SERVANT: When Space Coast Daily created the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame in 2011, Larry Garrison, third from right, was a charter member of the selection committee. Pictured above with Garrison are fellow committee members, left to right, Giles Malone, Rusty Buchanan, Keith Malone, Tom Palermo and Dr. Jim Palermo. (BBN image)

In his capacity as a prominent healthcare leader in the community, Larry was a fixture at many philanthropic and humanitarian events and organizations on the Space Coast and was celebrated as a Central Florida Humanitarian in 2010. Early in his career he also recognized the positive impact he could have on the Space Coast sports scene.

An avid golfer and sports fan, Garrison took advantage of the opportunities afforded him in his capacity as the top healthcare executive in the county to support sporting venues, events and organizations.

Almost every community charity golf tournament had the financial and participation support of Cape Canaveral Hospital and/or Health First. The Health First banner was a mainstay at just about every High School stadium or auditorium of every athletic discipline.

In the 90s, he was the primary support for the very successful Prep All-Star series and was also instrumental in launching live radio broadcasts of high school sports, which, as everyone knows, is now a Space Coast Daily multi-sport mainstay across the county.

Garrison’s love of sports, advocacy of Space Coast sports and his ongoing support of community fitness through Health First’s three fitness centers earned him a place as a founding member of the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame review board at its inception in 2011.

It is safe to say that few, if anyone, whoever met Larry were not impressed with his easy-going manner, warmth and generosity. Larry, who touched so many lives both professionally and personally over his 70 years on this earth, was a true sportsman,

I can very humbly and sincerely say that Larry Garrison’s life contributions and achievements, and his character are such to which we should all aspire.

Former Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles presents Larry Garrison with a proclamation during a visit by the governor to Brevard County in the early 1990s.

FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL, call 321-323-4460 or 321-615-8111 or e-mail Contact@SpaceCoastDaily.com.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MEMBERS OF THE SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME

SPACE COAST DAILY TV: Tim Wakefield talks about his induction into the first class of the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame. Space Coast Daily created the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame in 2011 and has so far inducted more than 200 of Brevard County’s most outstanding athletes, coaches and sports personalities.

The main athletic building on the Melbourne Campus hosts the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame, as portraits of the Hall of Famers are displayed on the wall in the building’s main hallway that runs parallel to the gym and outside the athletic department offices.

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