Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

Glover puts family before football game

Arizona Daily Wildcat

UA senior linebacker Stadford Glover took the long way to Penn State last weekend.

It was a whirlwind trip for Glover who found out last Wednesday night that his father had slipped into a diabetic coma.

"I just felt really weird that night, like something was wrong, and then someone told me my mom had called," he said.

Glover's father, retired Army Master Sgt. Thomas Glover, had driven himself to the William Beaumont Hospital in El Paso, Texas, that morning. Once he arrived, Thomas Glover collapsed in the emergency room and had to be revived with defibrillators. He slipped into a coma as his blood sugar level read 900.

"They didn't think he'd come out of that coma," Stadford Glover said of his father's doctors.

The UA linebacker told his coaches of the situation and they helped him get on a plane to Las Vegas to connect to a flight to El Paso.

"I just told him his dad was a lot more important than the football game was," UA head coach Dick Tomey said. "He said he thought he could play and we said all right. He just had a hell of a time getting there."

After being delayed for two hours in Las Vegas, Stadford Glover caught a flight to El Paso and made it to the hospital at 3 a.m.

"He got out of that coma an hour before I got there," Stadford Glover said. "They let me in and I was standing there with my bag in my hand and all and he turned around and looked at me like 'What are you doing here? I thought you had a game.'"

Once Stadford Glover was certain his father was going to be all right, he contacted the UA coaches about getting a flight to join the Wildcats in State College, Penn.

He wound up flying from El Paso to Houston to Detroit and finally to State College. That included two hour delays in both Houston and Detroit, and the final leg of the trip was on board a small plane.

"It was just shaking for all two hours," he said with a laugh. "I got in at like midnight, I was just jet-lagged. I didn't expect to play as much as I did."

Stadford Glover did see considerable action in the game, recording five tackles in Arizona's 41-7 loss to the No. 2-ranked Nittany Lions.

"I felt after all the trials and tribulations it was a relief (to play), it was the only fun I had," he said. "My dad was safe and doing good."

Glover said he calls his father every day after practice and that his father is "my best friend."

"I just freaked (when I heard)," Glover said. "Once he told me 'I'm fine son,' I felt okay."

Tomey said Glover was a prime example of why notions that jet-lag had anything to do with Arizona's loss, were nonsense.

"Now I know the definition of jet-lagged," Glover said. "I was so tired."

Glover said the actions of the coaches in helping him, meant a lot.

"Coach Tomey preaches family and he really means it," he said. "I was really impressed with Coach Tomey and Coach (Rob) Ianello. My dad was the main thing on my mind."

Glover went through a lot but in the end, he was thankful it all worked out for the best, even if his team didn't win.

"It was a rough week for me, but I tried to make the best of it," he said.