Education
University of Minnesota.
University of Minnesota.
Garmaker was a 6"3" guard/forward from the University of Minnesota. He was a 1955 consensus All-America for the Golden Gophers, along with Sihugo Green (Duquesne), Tom Gola (LaSalle), Bill Russell (San Francisco) and Dick Ricketts (Duquesne). He was drafted by the National Basketball Association"s Minneapolis Lakers twice (in 1954 and again in 1955) and joined the team for the 1955-1956 National Basketball Association season.
In his four-and-a-half seasons with the Lakers, Garmaker appeared as an National Basketball Association All-Star four times.
He had his finest season in 1956-1957, in which he ranked tenth in the league in points per game (163) and earned a spot on the All-National Basketball Association second team In 1960, he was traded to the New York Knicks for Ray Felix and a draft pick, and he retired with the Knicks in 1961, having scored 5,597 career points.