A native of Fairport Harbor, Ohio, and a graduate of Harding High School (1972), Dave Garden was one of just a handful of players who during their time at Youngstown State University, had the unique honor of playing his entire collegiate career for all three of the then Penguin head football coaches.
A four-year football letterman in high school where he was an All-Ohio Linebacker and Most Valuable Player of the East Suburban Conference as both a junior and senior, he was also a four-year letterman in track and field where he was the 1971 low hurdle state champion as a junior, then won both the low and high hurdle state crowns en-route to the Class "A" Most Valuable Player award the following season as a senior.
It was at the state track and field meet in 1972 when Garden was a senior that then assistant coach Bob Dove saw his performance, called head football coach Dwight "Dike" Beede to up the scholarship amount, and the rest they say is history for from 1972 to 1975, Garden's performance on the field was one that both coaches and teammates admired.
As a freshman in 1972, he led the team in rushing with 604 yards on 128 carries, an average of 4.9 per tote with seven touchdowns to his credit. The Penguins went 4-4-1 in Beede's last season and in 1973, he entered the Rey Dempsey era of coaching where he rushed for 808 yards on 187 carries (a 4.3 yards per carry average) and four touchdowns as a sophomore in 1973 (the team was 4-6-0 overall), then followed that up with an 8-2-0 overall mark and the school's first ever play-off appearance (they lost in the first round of the Division II playoffs to the University of Delaware, 35-14), rushing for 586 yards on 113 carries (and five touchdowns) as he became the blocking back for a 1,000-plus yard rusher that season, John Kinch.
His senior season in 1975 was played under first-year Head Coach Bill Narduzzi, and he responded by helping the new-look Penguins to a 5-5-0 overall mark. He rushed for a team high 523 yards on 112 carries (an average of 4.3 per carry) and four touchdowns, finishing his four-year career with 20 touchdowns, and 2,521 rushing yards (on 540 carries, an average of 4.67 per tote). That total is still sixth on the school's all-time rushing legend.
A 1977 graduate of YSU where he earned a BSAS in Law Enforcement Administration, he has been employed with the Lake County Sheriffs Office for the past 15 years where he is the Sgt. of the Road Patrol and Team Leader of the S.W.A.T. Team.
He and his wife Kay have been married for four years, and they are the parents of a two-month old daughter, Michaela Raine.
