Al Garten played end on Bison football teams which did not lose a home game during his years at OBU, compiling a home record of 15-0-1 and an overall record of 28-6-3.

The OBU yearbook described him as a "real utility man, able to play any position in the line from center to end."

The 1928 yearbook said that he was one of the "most dependable and consistently hard-playing football men—a man that any team in the state would have been glad to own."

Garten, from Coldwater, Kansas, was president of the student council while at OBU.

After graduation, he taught and coached in Oklahoma and New Mexico high schools before joining the staff of Eastern New Mexico University in Portales. He coached football, track, and basketball for 14 years and then coached only basketball for another 12 years. He served as athletic director from 1947-60. His ENMU basketball teams qualified for the NAIA national tournament five times.

He served as president of the NAIA and he was inducted into the NAIA Athletic Directors Hall of Fame.

Garten retired in 1967 and died in 1981.