Great stories, Ike! I grew up down the street from Coach Glaze and knew the legend of his hand-dug pool very well. I used to go to his place and play games with his grandson Mark. My older brother always looked up to Coach Glaze as a mentor, having wrestled for him all through high school. I only had the chance to wrestle for him my freshman year before he retired from coaching. I'll always respect him for being so hard-nosed. He really trained his boys -- his wrestlers -- to become men. I never came close to being able to take him down or get out from underneath him. When I was wrestling for him, I took advantage of every chance I could to get some pointers from him.

I did get to take his Anatomy and Physiology class when I was a sophomore. He walked around the classroom with a modified yardstick -- his "thumper." He was notorious for whacking kids who weren't paying attention or sleeping. Half the time he'd actually hit the kid, half the time he'd hit the desk, which would make everyone jump. He also knew this horrible pinching point on the back, right behind the armpit. He'd grab a bit of skin and twist, and man did that hurt like crazy.

I'm sure lots of "old school" teachers did stuff like this back in the day, but I can't think of any teacher I had in the 90s who could have gotten away with it. Everyone who had Coach Glaze as a teacher loved him. It was an honor for some kids to be the one who incurred his wrath the most -- you'd see the smile on the kid's face after Coach Glaze thumped him with the yardstick or after he'd pinched the kid's side.

Great man -- I wish I had more stories about him from on the mat. Every time I run into him back in Topeka, I make sure I talk to him. My first year as head coach at Washburn Rural, I asked him to be an honorary coach at our annual wrestle-off scrimmage -- he and Scott Murray were myy two honorary coaches. It was great seeing the two of them talk and hearing their stories.