'My journey was well worth it': Remembering Auburn legend Harvey Glance

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Harvey Glance

 
AUBURN, Ala. – With his commanding presence, Harvey Glance spoke to the fellow student-athletes who had integrated Auburn Athletics nearly a half century earlier.

If Glance's decision to leave Auburn in 1997 to coach at Alabama created a rift with his alma mater, any hard feelings dissolved on that Saturday morning at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum in November 2022 at a reunion of 1970s Black student-athletes sponsored by the James Owens Foundation.

"We were family," said Glance, referencing his pioneering peers from other sports. "How could I not be inspired? I was around some of the greatest athletes who ever lived. If they could do it, I could do it.

"We did not come to Auburn University for relationship. We came to Auburn University for partnership."

The greatest sprinter in Auburn history and the university's first Black head coach in any sport, Glance passed away this week at age 66. A three-time Olympian and 1976 Olympic gold medalist, Glance won four NCAA championships at Auburn from 1976-79 after arriving from his hometown of Phenix City, Alabama.

"He was certainly a trailblazer," said Auburn track and field head coach and Olympic gold medalist Leroy Burrell. "He ushered American sprinting into the latter part of the twentieth century where we really started to dominate. Harvey led that pack."
 'Do not let anyone deter you from your dreams'
At Auburn, Glance teamed with Willie Smith, James Walker and Tony Easley to form "The Fabulous Four," a quartet of sprinters who rewrote the SEC record book.

"Those were really good days," said Walker, Glance's roommate during their first two years at Auburn. "Harvey was a great guy. Very nice, very knowledgeable on and off the track. I'm just devastated.

"Harvey was a hard worker, on the track and in the weight room. He led more by example than by words back then during the Auburn days."

Glance typically anchored Auburn's record-setting relay teams, but early in their senior year, then-coach Mel Rosen shuffled the lineup, temporarily placing Walker in the anchor spot.

"Harvey didn't mind," said Walker, noting how Glance handled the adjustment without any ego. "Coach Rosen made the switch and Harvey was all for it, but I couldn't take it, it was too stressful for me. After two weeks I told Harvey, 'You've got to get anchor back again because I'm too nervous.' So Coach Rosen switched the lineup and put me back at second leg and put Harvey back on anchor leg."
 'How could I not be inspired?' Harvey Glance speaks at a reunion of 1970s Auburn Black student-athletes in November 2022
Two weeks before his death, Glance joined the podcast of Thom Gossom, who in 1975 became Auburn University's first Black student-athlete to graduate, sharing a story about a high school teacher who laughed at him when Harvey wrote of his goal to become an Olympic gold medalist in 1976.

"Sometimes when people try to hurt you, they inspire you," Glance told Gossom, adding that he returned to his high school to speak at commencement after winning a gold medal in Montreal. "Do not let anyone deter you from your dreams."

In 1991, Glance succeeded Rosen, his mentor, becoming the first Black head coach in Auburn history in any sport.

"That was a defining moment for me and my people," Glance said on Gossom's podcast, noting that Auburn had competed in athletics for a century before his historic hiring. "I thank Coach Pat Dye because he went out on a limb. I looked Coach Dye in his eye and said, 'I promise you, Coach, I will not let you down.'

"I went in with fire and desire to change the culture forever, not just for the moment, and we did that. My journey was well worth it."

"When you follow Mel Rosen, that speaks volumes," Burrell said. "To lead both Auburn and Alabama to a great deal of success says a lot about the quality of athlete, coach and person Harvey was. Auburn didn't have to go far to find a good Auburn man."A four-time NCAA champion, Harvey Glance won a gold medal in 1976
In 1997, Ralph Spry succeeded Glance as Auburn's head track and field coach, a position he held for the next 25 years.

"He was a good friend to me and a mentor in a lot of respects," Spry said. "I really looked up to him and I appreciated what he did for the sport and certainly for Auburn. He was always positive. His charisma affected a lot of people in a very positive way.

"Auburn has had a lot of great athletes but Harvey's the first one you think about. He's the one who put Auburn track and field on the national scene and at the world level. He was that type of talent and that type of person.

"He was a very good friend to me. Such a great person. I can't think of any one in track and field who won't be mourning his death. He was well-liked by everybody. I'll miss him and he'll certainly be missed by the Auburn family. I send my condolences to his loved ones and family."

Sports journalist Karen Rosen remembers Glance accompanying her father to Karen's tennis matches.
 Mel Rosen and Harvey Glance
"Dad loved Harvey's dedication to track and field," said Rosen, who recalls her father referring to Glance as the son he never had. "Dad said Harvey was the most focused athlete he had ever coached.

"Harvey kept my dad's coaching legacy alive by using his training methods, especially with Kirani James. Kirani is the only 400-meter runner with gold, silver and bronze medals at both the Olympics and the World Championships. Dad was really proud of what Harvey accomplished as a coach."

After his heartfelt speech to his fellow trailblazers at the James Owens Foundation breakfast in November 2022, Harvey Glance, the man so accustomed to finishing first, got the last word.

"I can say to everyone something I've wanted to say for 40 years," Glance said, anticipation building among the audience while he paused. "War Damn Eagle!"
 'My journey was well worth it'



Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer