He was the baseball coach at Granite City High School from 1960 to 1979. The athletic baseball field at Granite City High School was named in his honor in 2006. Champion played left field on the 1948 Granite City High School baseball team that won the Illinois State Championship. Granite City defeated the New Athens team to win the title. Whitey Herzog was the center fielder on the New Athens team. Champion was selected to the All-Tournament team as a sophomore. He coached the Granite City High School team in 1951 when he was a senior in his fifth year due to a lengthy illness in 1949 – 1950. From 1970 to 1979, he was the head coach of the Granite City American Legion Team. In 1976 and 1977, Granite City’s team finished runner-up at the Illinois American Legion State Tournament. From 1952 to 1956, Champion played left field and first base in the Madison County League in Illinois. During that same time, he also played for Shurtleff College in Alton, Illinois. Other teams he played for include: Fleishman’s Steelworkers the Pontoon Athletic Club. He also played fast-pitch softball in St. Louis for Thurmer’s Bar, and Kutis. From 1980 to 1987, Champion was a professional baseball scout for the Philadelphia Phillies and the Kansas City Royals in Illinois and Missouri. He was also a college baseball umpire for many years. In 1963, he umpired NCAA playoff games. Champion officiated high school and college basketball for 37 years and major college football for 15 years. He is a charter member of the Granite City Sports Hall of Fame. In October of 2016, Champion was named “Citizen of the Year” by the Chamber of Commerce, Southwestern Madison County, in Illinois.