Mike Glaser considers himself quite fortunate to have coached football at St. Xavier High School for 39 years and for being chosen for induction into the Louisville Catholic Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday night at the Kentucky Center for the Arts.
“It’s a great honor and I’m humbled by it,” Glaser said. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to have coached such great kids over that amount of time. I think I was born to coach.”
Glaser spent 31 seasons as the Tigers’ head coach, his teams winning seven state championships and compiling a 336-78 record that ranks him fourth in all-time victories before he retired after the 2012 season. Four of his teams were state runner-ups in the playoffs.
Besides Glaser and four other individuals, the Dwight Gahm family – which built Valhalla Golf Club – will receive the Howard Schnellenberger Family Award and Joe McGrath will be saluted for the Catholic School Athletic Association’s Contributor Award in the fourth annual ceremonies in the Bomhard Theatre.
A reception will begin at 6 p.m. with ceremonies starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $65 for an individual, $150 for a VIP table and $600 for a reserved table for 10.
Patrick Henry Hughes, who overcame physical disabilities to become a member of the University of Louisville marching band with his father at his side, will be the keynote speaker.
Glaser still teaches three classes and performs other activities at St. X, where he played guard on the 1969 state title-winning team. He also helped one of his former players, Joey Thurman, coach St. Agnes’ grade-school team the past two years, and he is helping Kevin Klein with St. X’s current basketball team. On Monday, he spoke to ex-Tiger Adam Billings’ North Bullitt High team that is headed for the Class 5-A playoffs starting Friday.
The Gahm family is well known in athletics and business, especially in golf. Valhalla has hosted PGA tournaments and Ryder Cup competition.
However, two of Dwight’s sons, Walt and Phil, played on state championship football teams at St. X. His son Gordie played basketball and golf for the Tigers, and Gordie’s daughter, Lindsay, starred in golf at Sacred Heart Academy and LSU, and won the Kentucky Women’s Open in 2012 and ’13.
McGrath, a star athlete at now defunct Flaget High, coached various sports for more than 1,000 seasons at St. Denis grade school during his 44-year career with the CSAA.
The other inductees:
Jeff Van Note: A product of St. Margaret Mary grade school, Van Noe played high school football at Bardstown St. Joe, college ball at Kentucky and spent 18 years as a center with the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL.
Crystal Kelly: She became the state’s Miss Basketball after leading Sacred Heart to three consecutive state Sweet 16 titles (2002-04). At Western Kentucky, she set career scoring (2,083 points) and rebounding records before playing in the WNBA three years. She is now an assistant coach at Bellarmine University.
Bobby Curtis: A legendary distance runner, Curtis won 19 state titles – 12 individual – in cross country and track at St. X before becoming the 2008 NCAA champion at 5,000 meters at Villanova. He now runs professionally and is aiming for a berth on the 2016 U. S. Olympic marathon team.
Colleen Jones Underhill: This Sacred Heart graduate ranked No. 1 statewide throughout her high school tennis career, winning the state singles title in 1973. She was undefeated in No. 1 singles at Miami of Ohio.