All boys. All boarding. Grades 9-12.
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Coach Glover Inducted into National Wrestling Hall of Fame
Last Friday, Dick Glover, Woodberry's longtime varsity wrestling and freshman football coach, was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame through the Virginia Chapter. Coach Glover was honored for his lifetime service to wrestling. His name will be added to a display within the Hall in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Congratulations Coach Glover.
Mr. Glover, history teacher, head coach of the Bengal football squad, and namesake of the school’s new fitness center, is best known for his legendary success with varsity wrestling. His teams have been Prep League champions, state independent school champions, and top-ten finishers in the prep school national championships multiple times, and he has frequently been named Prep League Coach of the Year. Mr. Glover was inducted into the Wabash College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992.
The following is Coach Glover's acceptance speech from the induction ceremony.
"There are numerous good friends, esteemed colleagues, and revered former wrestlers that are here tonight, and I greatly appreciate your presence.
I have led a charmed life. I have been particularly fortunate in my family and friends and to have had the opportunity to be associated with some wonderful institutions, Woodberry Forest School, Blue Ridge School, Wabash College and The United States Marine Corps. To be able to cap my career with an honor of this magnitude is more than a bit overwhelming. I feel humbled and gratified, and wish to thank whoever nominated me for this honor and the Directors of the Hall of Fame.
One of the great joys that I get out of coaching is the opportunity to compete against men that I like and respect, like Pete Schafer of St. Christopher's School. I am happy that my oldest friend in coaching, Drew Bright of Douglas Freeman High School is here. Drew and I have been going at it since the early 70's. I also am happy that I am sharing the honor with Ken Bumgardner. Ken was one of the best refs I have ever seen and has refereed many matches at Woodberry Forest. His successor as coordinator of the Northern Virginia Wrestling Officials Association is Mike Ingrao, likewise an outstanding ref who also has refereed many matches at Woodberry. Mike's day job is that he is a top official with the AFL/CIO. As you might have guessed from Mike's job description he is just a shade to the left of me politically. Whenever I disagree with a call that Mike has made, I don't get mad, I just sit back and take great pleasure in the knowledge that Mike's job with the AFLCIO requires him, several times a year, to fly into and out of Ronald Reagan International National Airport.
I don't see sport as adversarial; rather I see sport as a celebration of youth. Oh, winning is very important, and I love to win, but to me winning is the icing on the cake. It is the competition and the preparation for the competition that is the cake.
It is rather presumptuous of me to talk about an athletic philosophy, but in my role of Associate Director of Athletics I am called upon each fall to talk to new faculty about the role of athletics at Woodberry. What I tell new faculty members would also apply to those of us here who teach and coach. It is our mission is to develop the whole boy: morally, intellectually, and physically. Athletics, correctly used, can be a vehicle for improving kids in all three areas.
Working with kids on the athletic field gives us the opportunity to help shape, mold, and meaningfully interact with students in a way that is not possible in the more formal setting of the classroom. It adds another important dimension to our relationship with the students. Athletic competition can have a profound influence in the development of boys. There are few experiences which require kids to put their talent and ego on the line in the way that athletic competition does. Learning to get your life together, and to allow yourself the time to do what you really want to do is an important part of education. Many activities encourage it – athletics demand it. Traveling, studying, practicing, going to class and socializing, all impose the need to organize and set priorities.
If we can get our kids to persevere in the face of adversity, and to be humble in victory and gracious in defeat, we will be contributing significantly to their development as competent, confident gentlemen.
One of the most important tasks in coaching, as I see it, is to get kids to try hard, but yet to relax and keep things in perspective. In an effort to minimize the paralyzing “fear of failure” which inhibits effective performance, and to encourage maximum effort while promoting sportsmanship, I typically inflict the following homily on my 9th grade football and varsity wrestling teams.
'Boys,
You should realize that you don’t have 100% control over whether you are going to win or lose. You might become the victim of bad luck, or your opponent might simply be better than you are. You do, however, have 100% control over how well you prepare, how hard you compete, and how you handle yourself in victory and defeat.
Just remember, you are not ennobled by victory in an athletic contest, nor are you denigrated by defeat, rather, it is how you prepare, how you compete, and perhaps most importantly, how you react to victory and defeat, which is the true indication of your character.
If you prepare with rigor, dedication, and commitment, if you compete to the best of your ability, always fight, and never give up, and if you are magnanimous, humble, and gracious in victory and can accept defeat with equanimity and without alibis, then, gentlemen, you are winners.'
Again, I feel that in the lottery of life I have made out like a bandit. I could have been born in Bangladesh and spent my life as a cooly with cancer, but instead I was born in The United States of America and I have been blessed with a lifetime of association with remarkable people, and I have spent my professional life being well paid to thoroughly enjoy myself - and now this honor. My cup does truly runneth over. Thank you."
Back
Mr. Glover, history teacher, head coach of the Bengal football squad, and namesake of the school’s new fitness center, is best known for his legendary success with varsity wrestling. His teams have been Prep League champions, state independent school champions, and top-ten finishers in the prep school national championships multiple times, and he has frequently been named Prep League Coach of the Year. Mr. Glover was inducted into the Wabash College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992.
The following is Coach Glover's acceptance speech from the induction ceremony.
"There are numerous good friends, esteemed colleagues, and revered former wrestlers that are here tonight, and I greatly appreciate your presence.
I have led a charmed life. I have been particularly fortunate in my family and friends and to have had the opportunity to be associated with some wonderful institutions, Woodberry Forest School, Blue Ridge School, Wabash College and The United States Marine Corps. To be able to cap my career with an honor of this magnitude is more than a bit overwhelming. I feel humbled and gratified, and wish to thank whoever nominated me for this honor and the Directors of the Hall of Fame.
One of the great joys that I get out of coaching is the opportunity to compete against men that I like and respect, like Pete Schafer of St. Christopher's School. I am happy that my oldest friend in coaching, Drew Bright of Douglas Freeman High School is here. Drew and I have been going at it since the early 70's. I also am happy that I am sharing the honor with Ken Bumgardner. Ken was one of the best refs I have ever seen and has refereed many matches at Woodberry Forest. His successor as coordinator of the Northern Virginia Wrestling Officials Association is Mike Ingrao, likewise an outstanding ref who also has refereed many matches at Woodberry. Mike's day job is that he is a top official with the AFL/CIO. As you might have guessed from Mike's job description he is just a shade to the left of me politically. Whenever I disagree with a call that Mike has made, I don't get mad, I just sit back and take great pleasure in the knowledge that Mike's job with the AFLCIO requires him, several times a year, to fly into and out of Ronald Reagan International National Airport.
I don't see sport as adversarial; rather I see sport as a celebration of youth. Oh, winning is very important, and I love to win, but to me winning is the icing on the cake. It is the competition and the preparation for the competition that is the cake.
It is rather presumptuous of me to talk about an athletic philosophy, but in my role of Associate Director of Athletics I am called upon each fall to talk to new faculty about the role of athletics at Woodberry. What I tell new faculty members would also apply to those of us here who teach and coach. It is our mission is to develop the whole boy: morally, intellectually, and physically. Athletics, correctly used, can be a vehicle for improving kids in all three areas.
Working with kids on the athletic field gives us the opportunity to help shape, mold, and meaningfully interact with students in a way that is not possible in the more formal setting of the classroom. It adds another important dimension to our relationship with the students. Athletic competition can have a profound influence in the development of boys. There are few experiences which require kids to put their talent and ego on the line in the way that athletic competition does. Learning to get your life together, and to allow yourself the time to do what you really want to do is an important part of education. Many activities encourage it – athletics demand it. Traveling, studying, practicing, going to class and socializing, all impose the need to organize and set priorities.
If we can get our kids to persevere in the face of adversity, and to be humble in victory and gracious in defeat, we will be contributing significantly to their development as competent, confident gentlemen.
One of the most important tasks in coaching, as I see it, is to get kids to try hard, but yet to relax and keep things in perspective. In an effort to minimize the paralyzing “fear of failure” which inhibits effective performance, and to encourage maximum effort while promoting sportsmanship, I typically inflict the following homily on my 9th grade football and varsity wrestling teams.
'Boys,
You should realize that you don’t have 100% control over whether you are going to win or lose. You might become the victim of bad luck, or your opponent might simply be better than you are. You do, however, have 100% control over how well you prepare, how hard you compete, and how you handle yourself in victory and defeat.
Just remember, you are not ennobled by victory in an athletic contest, nor are you denigrated by defeat, rather, it is how you prepare, how you compete, and perhaps most importantly, how you react to victory and defeat, which is the true indication of your character.
If you prepare with rigor, dedication, and commitment, if you compete to the best of your ability, always fight, and never give up, and if you are magnanimous, humble, and gracious in victory and can accept defeat with equanimity and without alibis, then, gentlemen, you are winners.'
Again, I feel that in the lottery of life I have made out like a bandit. I could have been born in Bangladesh and spent my life as a cooly with cancer, but instead I was born in The United States of America and I have been blessed with a lifetime of association with remarkable people, and I have spent my professional life being well paid to thoroughly enjoy myself - and now this honor. My cup does truly runneth over. Thank you."
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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