Vernon Glass (October 14, 1928 – December 3, 2005) was an American football coach. He served as head football coach at Lamar University from 1963 to 1975, compiling a record of 63–68–1. Glass was a standout quarterback in

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi (; Ecclesiastical Latin: "'' Body of Christ"'') is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patrici ...

, and played in the 1947 Oil Bowl alongside Hayden Fry. He chose to attend Rice University, where he was a three-year letter-winner in both football and baseball. He captained the 1950 football team and the 1951 baseball team. He keyed Rice's drive to the 1949 Southwest Conference crown, including a 17–15 win over Texas in a showdown in Austin, Texas. Rice also won the 1950 Cotton Bowl Classic against the University of North Carolina, which was led by Charlie Justice, also known as "Choo Choo". Before joining the coaching profession, Glass spent two years in the United States Air Force, leading Carswell Air Force Base to the 1952 national service championship. He also played one year of professional baseball at Corpus Christi in 1953. Glass started his coaching career at Del Mar College, a junior college in Corpus Christi. After three seasons as assistant, he spent one year as head coach, guiding the Vikings to a 9–0 record before falling in the Junior Rose Bowl. Glass then left Del Mar to serve as an assistant coach under

John Bridgers John Dixon Bridgers II (January 13, 1922 – November 24, 2006) was an American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Johns Hopkins University from 1953 to 1956 and at Baylor University from 19 ...

at Baylor University from 1960 to 1962.

Lamar

In 1963, he became head coach at Lamar State College of Technology—now known as Lamar University—in

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...

, guiding the Cardinals to 6–3–1 record and the Southland Conference (SLC) title in just his second year. Lamar was invited to the

Pecan Bowl The Pecan Bowl was the name of some December college football bowl games played in two different eras. In 1946 and 1947, the game was contested between historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). From 1964 through 1970, the game was a reg ...

, where they lost 19–17 to the

State College of Iowa The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa. UNI offers more than 90 majors across the colleges of Business Administration, Education, Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences and grad ...

. Glass also helped Lamar win SLC titles in 1965 and 1966, which gave the Cardinals three straight conference championships. The other SLC title came in 1971. His best season at Lamar was in 1974 when the Cardinals posted an 8–2 record. He was named SLC Coach of the Year in 1970 and 1974. In addition, Glass was named NCAA College Division Coach of the Year in 1964 and 1965 and was recognized by the Texas Sports Writers Association at Junior College Coach of the Year in 1959. In September 2009, Bart Simmons, a Lamar University alumnus, donated $200,000 to create a football practice facility, the "Coach Vernon Glass Field of Champions".

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Glass, Vernon 1928 births 2005 deaths American football quarterbacks Baylor Bears football coaches Lamar Cardinals football coaches Rice Owls football players Junior college football coaches in the United States People from Cass County, Texas Players of American football from Corpus Christi, Texas