Alabama Baseball Icon Promoted To Chief Deputy Of Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Gary Wayne Keller, known by scores as G.W., is easily one of the most iconic baseball players in University of Alabama history, but has been leaving his mark for the last two decades in a much different profession.

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After his playing days ended, the Bakersfield, California native returned to his old stomping grounds in the Yellowhammer State and joined ranks with the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office to set out for a career in law enforcement.

And 19 years later he was formally introduced by the Tuscaloosa County Commission on Wednesday as the next chief deputy of the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office.

Keller, 45, will fill the position previously held by decorated lawman Byron Waid, a second-generation police officer who served across four different TCSO administrations and for nearly four decades before retiring at the end of the calendar year.

Waid was a regular fixture at Commission meetings, serving as the agency's liaison to the elected body along with Chief Deputy Loyd Baker, and now it will be Keller to fill the void as one of the most-trusted administrators for the sheriff's office.

Despite his good deeds as a public servant, Keller remains best-known as the power-hitting, standout right fielder on some stellar Crimson Tide teams over three seasons (1997-99).

He went on to a brief minor league career after being drafted in the 18th round of the 1999 MLB June Amateur Draft by the Oakland Athletics, but eventually turned his interests to law enforcement.

To this day, Keller holds the University of Alabama record for most hits by an outfielder in a single season with 105 and is second in school history behind only Golden Spikes Award winner Dave Magadan for the highest career batting average (.381).

Then and now ...

But apart from the baseball diamond, his colleagues and mentors in law enforcement have had nothing but praise for the lawman Keller became.

"G.W. has done an outstanding job during his time at Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office," Sheriff Ron Abernathy told Patch on Wednesday. "I expect great things in the future for him and the residents of Tuscaloosa County. "

Keller told Patch that after starting at the sheriff's office in January 2004, he has worked in just about every division other than the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit and gained a wealth of knowledge from his mentors.

Among those Keller said prepared him for the role is his predecessor — Byron Waid.

"I still communicate with Byron and I've got someone to lean on and to learn from in the new job," Keller said. "I did get to work underneath him for about a year and a half before I took on this responsibility, so he did well on trying to pass along what I needed to know. He spent 36 years here and he devoted his life to the sheriff's office. He did a wonderful job setting this place up for people to take over when he left, so it's not going to fill [his absence] but I'm going to come in and I've got to do my own thing."

These are busy days for the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office, with numerous large-scale capital projects in the works aimed at addressing everything from overcrowding in the Tuscaloosa County Jail to day-to-day operations for deputies.

"The big thing right now is finishing up our Patrol Division," he said of the agency moving its patrol hub to a new location on 35th Street. "That's going to be tremendous for our investigative divisions, for our training division and our records. Having a new facility that's state-of-the-art where we've kind of had to piece together all the stuff we've done here at our office now, which used to be, if people don't know, the old jail. So it's always been a work in progress and we've got to finally start something from scratch."

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