For 13 years, he roamed the Pell City Panther sideline as head football coach. Now, 58 years after taking over the Panther program, Will Glover is still considered one of the greatest football coaches in the history of the school.Early life
Born May 2, 1923, Glover was one of 12 children, the son of a farmer and lay minister. His love for football started at an early age. He was so fast and quick that he started playing varsity football in the seventh grade.
These were days during the depression and Glover was needed in the fields alongside his dad.
According to Glover’s son, Bill, his dad was not a rebellious teenager but his grandpa whipped him every time he came home from practice because he needed to be working in the fields.
“However, my dad loved football so much, he took the whippings until grandpa finally gave up,” Bill Glover said.
High School
Glover attended Hale County High School in Moundville. He was an All-State tailback and scored 60 touchdowns his final two years in 1941-42.
He needed only one more semester to graduate but at the age of 18, he decided to join the Navy before he was drafted.
Entering the service…and playing football
Glover was sent to Sand Diego, California for boot camp in December 1942.. What was supposed to be a 16-week boot camp turned into 12 weeks because the war was so close to starting.
Members of the base found out Glover had made All-State as a football player in high school and invited him to play football for San Diego Training.
“The captain of the base was an old Notre Dame man and he wanted me to go to Notre Dame when I got out of the service,” Glover said. “At that time, I wanted to go to Alabama. Moundville is only 12 miles from Tuscaloosa and I was afraid I would not be eligible to play in college. I did not want to take a chance.”
In four games, Glover scored seven touchdowns for San Diego.
World War II
From San Diego, Glover headed overseas. Over the next 27 months, Glover was the landing craft operator in three South Pacific invasions and landed marines at Treasure Island, Bouganville and Guam.
“I was put in the worst part of the Navy,” Glover recalled. “The last invasion was Guam and then the war was over.”
Glover was sent to a training station in Rhode Island for two months once he returned to the states. From there, he was sent to New Orleans for six weeks and then on to Memphis where he was discharged Jan. 1, 1946. All total, he spent 37 months in the Navy.
Where to go?
When spring training started at Alabama, Glover was there but he said Crimson Tide coach Frank Thomas was a peculiar man.
“He told me to wait until August and I could start with the rest of the team,” Glover said. “I did not want to wait and Red Drew talked me into going to the University of Mississippi.
At Ole Miss
Glover said he liked the idea and signed with Ole Miss. He made the 1946 traveling squad but did not see much playing time. He weighed 180 pounds when he went into the Navy and three years later, he weighed 156 pounds and was 6-foot, 2-inches tall.
“It took me a year to get my speed back,” Glover said.
1947 season
Glover saw a lot of playing time in 1947 at running back and safety. The Rebels went 8-2, won the SEC title and defeated TCU 13-9 in the Delta Bowl that was played at Memphis.
His coach was John Vaught and Glover called him one of the smartest coaches ever.
The head football coach at Kentucky at the time was Paul “Bear” Bryant who made a trip to Mississippi twice to meet Glover but missed him both times.
“I did not want to play at Kentucky, Glover said. “I was happy at Ole Miss.”
Honors
Glover lettered during his sophomore season. He was named the SEC Back of the Week for his performance against Vanderbilt on Oct. 7, 1947.
Also that year, he set a single-game punt return yards record, a record he held for 55 years until it was broken by Jason Armstead in 2002. He still holds the Ole Miss record for punt return yards in a season and that record has stood for 60 years.
He also held the le Miss record in track for the 220-yard dash for 36 years until it was broken in 1984 by Olympian Tony Dees.
One of the greatest things to happen to Glover after that sophomore season was the offer that came from the NFL.
“The Pittsburg Steelers offered me $13,000 to play with them but I would have lost two years of eligibility,” Glover said. “Besides, I wanted to be a coach.”
Stayed at Ole Miss
Glover did stay at Ole Miss but in 1948, a spot was found on Glover’s lungs and doctors thought he had tuberculosis. Needless to say, he did not play football in 1948 or ever again and was sent to a VA Hospital in North Carolina.
Even though it cleared up in about a month with antibiotics, doctors would not release Glover to play football. The VA declared his illness service connected due to his run down state when he returned from the war. In the early 1950's, when he went to the VA Hospital for his annual check up, there was no evidence of lung scarring that goes with tuberculosis.
Getting degree
Of all of the siblings, Glover was the only one of 12 to get a college education. He graduated from Ole Miss in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and a minor in English.
From there, it was on to coaching.
Getting to Pell City
Glover’s son, Bill, said his dad went through Pell City late one night by train while in college and saw the school and town.
“He thought to himself that Pell City would be a great place to coach,” the younger Glover said. “I do believe that a Mr. Howell from Moundville was the reason my dad went into coaching. He was the principal of Hale County High School and took over as football coach when the regular coach went into the service during the war. Mr. Howell later became president of the bank and loaned my dad enough money to move he and my mom to Pell City for his first coaching job. Needless to say, my dad had no collateral.”
Becoming Pell City’s coach
“I wanted to be a coach all my life,” Glover said. “The best thing that ever happened to me was going to Pell City. I had good material the years I was there.
Glover’s first year as Pell City coach was 1950. The Panthers were coming off a season where they did not win a game. Glover’s first year saw the Panthers go 3-5-1. It was the start of a beautiful relationship.
1951 to 1955
Over the next five seasons, Glover led the Panthers to three undefeated seasons and a five-year overall record of 42-4-2.
“We went 6-3 in 1952 and I should not have lost a game but we were busy building the stadium,” Glover said. “In 1953, we went 9-0 and teams were scared to play us. I remember the Oxford coach coming to watch us scrimmage and he left saying they would not play us.”
A wealth of talent
Glover said he ran out of material after the 1955 season but he had some great players in the early 1950s.
Tootie Hare was one of the best defensive players I ever had,” Glover said. “Robert Wayne Skelton was one of the finest quarterbacks a high school team could have.
Charlie Gray caught 60 passes his senior year and Skelton threw everyone to him. Pete Rich was as tough as they come. Wayne Spradley was one of the best, easiest boys to coach and a great defensive player. He gave 100 percent. I had a lot of good players.
Terry Turner was a good football player and got a scholarship to Auburn.”
Six of Glover’s Pell City players signed with Alabama and six more signed with Auburn.
Coaching career
Glover’s entire coaching career was spent in Pell City. The last year he coached in Pell City was 1962.
“I had other offers but I never would leave because the fans in Pell City wanted me to stay. I had plenty of opportunities to go elsewhere. Albertville and Heflin just to name two. Albertville wasn’t bad but I did not want to go to Heflin.”
His overall 13-year record at Pell City was 80-40-6. He never beat Sylacauga, beat Talladega only once but beat Leeds 11 out of 12 years.
“I’ve always been a strong winner and a weak loser,” he said. “I think I went to Pell City at the right time. I made the best friends I ever had right there in Pell City.”
He would have coached longer had he not started having health problems.
“Every Friday before a game, I’d start getting stressed out and breaking out in whelps,” Glover said. “The doctor told me I had to give up coaching or I was going to have a heart attack.”
Life after Pell City
Years later in Mississippi, many high schools wanted Glover to lead their football programs but he had to turn all of them down.
He started a Jack’s Hamburger store in Jackson, Mississippi on June 3, 1964. He opened a second store three years later. He then leased them out for 10 years and then sold them in 1991.
Golf and the Bear
Glover has always loved the game of golf. He plays still today at the age of 85.
“I’ve had two hole-in-ones in my life and the first one was when I was 79,” he said.
Glover used to come back and play golf at Pine Harbor once a year with Bear Bryant
“No one would ride with him in the golf cart because they were scared of him,” Glover remembered. “I wasn’t scared of him so I always rode with him.”
Glover was inducted into the initial class of the St. Clair County Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.
Family
Glover and his wife, Sibyl, were married 51 and a half years before she died in 2001.
They met in Nashville while Glover was playing football at Ole Miss and she was a student at Vanderbilt.
“She was from Georgia and going to school at Vanderbilt,” Glover said. “We met on Friday before the game on Saturday. I saw her at the Grand Ole Opry. I knew I was going to marry her the first time I saw her. She got a job at the VA Hospital in Memphis and I got to know her before I went to the hospital in North Carolina. We courted on weekends every time I could borrow a car to go to Memphis. She is the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Glover has two sons. Bill was born the first year he was at Pell City in 1950 and Jeff was born in 1955. He also has five grandsons.
Reunion
Several years ago, all the guys who lettered for Glover at Pell City held a reunion and invited Glover. There were over 200 in attendance and the reunion was held at the old high school.
“I enjoyed that trip back to Pell City more than anything,” he said. “It was so good to see all the guys who played for me.”
