North Texas Daily

W.C. Garrett is reclined back in his chair, relaxing on a Wednesday night in early September. He sports dark gray sweats with a soft silver sweater, capped with all-white Nikes as his kicks. The final piece of his attire, something he’s worn his entire life, is a contagious energetic personality.

The only sounds are his words, laughs at his occasional jokes and the intermittent vacuum passing by in the hallway of the North Texas Athletic Center.

In a room filled with more than 50 athletes who are all used to leading and being vocal on the field, Garrett, who is informally known as “Dub C”, quickly snatched the room’s attention using just his words – words about the Lord, Christianity and spreading God’s message.

“I just think it’s a gift from the Lord,” Garrett said. “I think the Lord knitted me to have a personality that would be captivating and a spirit that could capture an audience. Not everyone has that gift, and I recognize that, and I want to use that gift to try to impact as many people as possible.”

For the past two years, Garrett has led a meeting called Athletes in Training (AIT) in an attempt to grow their spirit and connection with God.

As Garrett leisurely paced back and forth in front of the room with a slideshow clicker in his hand on that September night, he asked the crowd for answers to a question on the screen. Someone answered, but Garrett struggled to locate her in the densely populated crowd.

Once he found her, everyone laughed – and he loved it.

“It’s great that I can’t figure out who’s talking,” Garrett said once the laughter died down. “I remember when there were only enough people here to fill the front row.”

Most sports on campus have at least two or three athletes in attendance at the AIT meetings every Wednesday night, filling the football team meeting room with ease. As the night goes on, it’s easy to see the impact Garret has on his audience as a person and spiritual leader.

“He’s a blessing, an absolute blessing,” senior running back Jeffery Wilson said. “He’s energetic. He gives the word to us, keeps our head on straight. For me, he keeps me humble. He’s a very spiritual man and a very good guy.”

Garrett, who graduated from UNT in 2011, has officially been part of the Campus Outreach ministry since 2012.

While AIT reaches several athletes, he also fills the role of chaplain to the football team. In the last two years, he has been a spiritual leader for the Mean Green and has been someone head coach Seth Littrell loves having in the locker room.

“W.C. is unbelievable,” Littrell said. “We’re blessed to have him. Sometimes players aren’t going to tell their coaches everything, so he’s another voice where they can go bounce ideas off. I know the players love and respect him, and he’s a great asset to our program.”

After the football team’s win against UAB, Littrell, as usual, talked to his players in the locker room after the game. Once he finished, he asked, “Where’s W.C.?” before asking Garrett, “How was the response to adversity today?”

“It was great,” Garrett replied.

Players look to him for guidance when in doubt and a verse or word from the Lord when times get hard. He’s the type of influence that has helped North Texas through the tough parts of the year both on and off the field.

“W.C. is going to tell you what you need to hear right when you need to hear it,” sophomore safety Khairi Muhammad said. “He brings the energy, brings the passion and whenever you’re down he’ll pick you up. He’s never in a bad mood. [He’s] always smiling, and we love him for that.”

While a good amount of players on the team have a strong interest in religion, others do not. As is true anywhere, it is rare that everyone in a given room believes in the same thing. Garrett understands that when speaking to athletes at North Texas.

Every player doesn’t take what he is saying in the exact same way – but he is still able to be an effective communicator by connecting his message to the game of football and life in general.

“In my chapel talks before each game, I do want to make them Christ-centered with a focus on Jesus because I believe he’s the reason we exist,” Garrett said. “But some people may not believe that. So in order to get them ready for a game, I may pull out one truth about one topic and hone in on that and show how it points to Jesus but also how it also points to the game they’re going into in the next hour.”

Having been at North Texas since 2007, first as a student and now as a leader on campus, Garrett has been in Denton for several ups and downs at the university. As the chaplain of the football team and leader of AIT, his voice has grown louder with every passing day, reaching more and more people throughout the year.

He became a Christian his sophomore year of college and has had a deep desire to know God and grow closer to him ever since.

He greets everyone as though he’s known them for years with a handshake and a hug, and he makes everyone in attendance feel comfortable – whether it’s in an AIT gathering or an hour before a football game.

While he continues to build his relationship with God, he has already made his impact felt on the football team and on the entirety of North Texas athletics as well.

“I would love to continue to be the chaplain for as long as they would allow me to be,” Garrett said. “I’m a volunteer. I don’t get paid for what I do, I just do it because I enjoy it and it [allows] me to be with athletes and help them grow.”

Featured Image: W.C. Garrett, the chaplain of the North Texas football team, graduated from the university in 2011. He’s been a part of Campus Outreach ministry since 2012. Mallory Cammarata