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Independence, MO —
For 25 years, Bob Glasgow went to work every day at Oak Grove High School and did his job.
He simply did it better than any other coach in the history of the state as he led the Panther wrestling team to a 245-39-2 dual record, 12 state championships, six runner-up finishes and four third-place trophies.
It should come as no surprise that the Missouri Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee will be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame’s Missouri State Chapter Oct. 21 in Columbia. The actual Hall of Fame is located in Stillwater, Okla., and the Missouri Chapter will bear Glasgow’s name there.
Under the Blue Springs High School graduate’s leadership, the Panthers also won 17 Missouri River Valley Conference regular season dual team titles, 16 MRVC tournament titles (the last 11 straight), 17 district titles, and garnered nine top 25 national rankings.
Individually the Panthers produced 14 high school All-Americans, 72 individual state champions, three four-time state champs, five three-time state champs and 10 two-time state champs under Glasgow’s watch.
“When I found out, I was in total shock,” said Glasgow, who retired from coaching and as the Oak Grove activities director two years ago to become the Raytown School District activities director.
“I was nominated from the state of Missouri, and the national Hall of Fame committee accepted the nomination. It’s all pretty amazing. Not bad for a kid who wrestled at Blue Springs and Northwest Missouri State University, then – as luck would have it – got a job at Oak Grove High School right out of college and won a state title as a green, first-year head coach.”
He set the bar high as a rookie coach, but proved the first title wasn’t a fluke as his Panthers finished third in state the next two years and then won a second state title three years later.
“My second state championship team was made up of a lot of the freshmen I had my first year – they grew and developed and we started something pretty special,” said Glasgow, who produced nine NCAA Division I wrestlers and three NCAA Division I All-Americans.
While it would be impossible to name a favorite team – as Glasgow said, “That’s like naming your favorite child” – one team was a bit more special than the rest.
“Nothing will top the first team,” said Glasgow, a founding member of the Mo-Kan Metro Wrestling Classic, “because it came out of nowhere.
For 25 years, Bob Glasgow went to work every day at Oak Grove High School and did his job.
He simply did it better than any other coach in the history of the state as he led the Panther wrestling team to a 245-39-2 dual record, 12 state championships, six runner-up finishes and four third-place trophies.
It should come as no surprise that the Missouri Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee will be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame’s Missouri State Chapter Oct. 21 in Columbia. The actual Hall of Fame is located in Stillwater, Okla., and the Missouri Chapter will bear Glasgow’s name there.
Under the Blue Springs High School graduate’s leadership, the Panthers also won 17 Missouri River Valley Conference regular season dual team titles, 16 MRVC tournament titles (the last 11 straight), 17 district titles, and garnered nine top 25 national rankings.
Individually the Panthers produced 14 high school All-Americans, 72 individual state champions, three four-time state champs, five three-time state champs and 10 two-time state champs under Glasgow’s watch.
“When I found out, I was in total shock,” said Glasgow, who retired from coaching and as the Oak Grove activities director two years ago to become the Raytown School District activities director.
“I was nominated from the state of Missouri, and the national Hall of Fame committee accepted the nomination. It’s all pretty amazing. Not bad for a kid who wrestled at Blue Springs and Northwest Missouri State University, then – as luck would have it – got a job at Oak Grove High School right out of college and won a state title as a green, first-year head coach.”
He set the bar high as a rookie coach, but proved the first title wasn’t a fluke as his Panthers finished third in state the next two years and then won a second state title three years later.
“My second state championship team was made up of a lot of the freshmen I had my first year – they grew and developed and we started something pretty special,” said Glasgow, who produced nine NCAA Division I wrestlers and three NCAA Division I All-Americans.
While it would be impossible to name a favorite team – as Glasgow said, “That’s like naming your favorite child” – one team was a bit more special than the rest.
“Nothing will top the first team,” said Glasgow, a founding member of the Mo-Kan Metro Wrestling Classic, “because it came out of nowhere.
“But the 2004 team was special for me as a father, because my son Kellen won a state title and his state title clinched the team championship,” Glasgow said with a touch of emotion in his voice.
“I’d talked about retiring from wrestling before he started and his mom and Kellen talked me out of it – and I am so glad they did. I’m a guy who usually has a lot to say, but on that day I was speechless. I’ll never forget hugging him after he won and we won state. Words couldn’t describe it then and they can’t describe it now.”
Glasgow’s final year as a head coach at Oak Grove was also special as his Panthers finished in third place and his son Riley, a senior, lost his first match then won six in a row to claim third.
“That was a good way to end it, to say goodbye,” Glasgow said. “Riley was a senior, I got to coach him and Kellen, and 25 seemed like a good, round number.”
In high school sports, consistency is the hallmark of champions. For 14 years in a row, Glasgow’s Panthers never placed worse than second. Over his 25-year span at Oak Grove, he coached just three teams that didn’t bring hardware back to the Panthers’ trophy case from the state tournament.
Glasgow also coached the Missouri USA National Teams squad from 1983 to 2003. He served as a Missouri USA Wrestling board member from 1985 to 2008 and was the vice-chairman from 1985 to 1995. He was the Missouri USA National Teams director from 1995 to 2008. In 1992, he coached the U.S. team to a dual win over Canada. In 1998, his Missouri Cadet Tour de Monde team went 47-3 in a tour of the United Kingdom.
“To be named to the National Hall of Fame means I must have done something right along the way and that I had a lot of people in my corner,” Glasgow said. “To me, I just went to work every day and did something I loved. I had a great 25 years, and to receive an honor like this, well, it makes you pretty humble.”
