MSM May/June 2012

all star team that toured Europe during their college days, felt adding the Rebel legend to the staff and helping him get back into the game was a no brainer. “He expressed a desire to get back into coaching. He had a real passion for wanting to not only get his degree but that would enable him to pursue the next stage in his life which was coaching. I was just happy to provide the opportunity.”

Still the best part of it for Glass was getting his degree. “I didn’t think I would ever get a degree. I was afraid of the challenge academically. I didn’t think I was prepared to do it but when you really want to get something done you can dig inside and get it done.

That was one of the proudest moments of my life.”

Glass grew up watching his uncle play basketball and that is where his passion for the game stems from. He was obsessed at an early age and grew up idolizing Philadelphia’s Julius Erving. “Growing up Dr. J was my hero.

I watched every Sixers game I could.

Every time I saw a Dr. J game it intensified my love for the game and I wanted to play.”

As a prep player Glass had all the skills and talent but the knock on him was his 6’4” size. Division one coaches didn’t know what to do with him. “I was told by several college coaches I was a ‘tweener’. I was an in between size player. That is why a lot of the big division one schools overlooked me.”

He ended up at Delta State under Ed Murphy. “I was either going to go there or Jackson State or Mississippi Valley or Alcorn. I ended up going to Delta State because they had a better team.” Murphy left after just one season with Glass to take over at Ole Miss. Glass, after leading DSU to the D2 Final Four in 1987, opted to rejoin his former coach for his junior and senior seasons in Oxford. He was finally going to play big time college basketball and it didn’t concern him one bit. “In my mind back in those days, I believed I could play with anybody. I wasn’t intimidated by anybody.

I didn’t care if you were D1 or D2 or NBA I felt like I could play with you.”

He adds with a laugh, “I should have been scared but I wasn’t intimidated.

I had something to prove. That is how I approached it. I wanted to show everybody that they made a mistake from high school overlooking me and saying I was too small to play on a certain level.”

His junior year, Glass was fourth in MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 17