Glenn Steven Montgomery (March 31, 1967 – June 28, 1998) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

defensive tackle in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL).

Football career

Montgomery grew up in a poverty-stricken area and starred at West Jefferson High School in

Harvey, Louisiana Harvey is a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. Harvey is on the south side (referred to as the "West Bank") of the Mississippi River, within the New Orleans– Metairie–Kenner metropolitan sta ...

. His brother, Sean, a member of the U.S. Junior Olympic

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

team, developed problems related to

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

. To help his brother, Montgomery accepted a scholarship to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, where his 12 sacks during his 1988 senior season was one short of a team record. Concerned about the welfare of his brother, he almost left the school, but he was talked out of it by the

coaches Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

. The , 283-pound Montgomery was drafted by the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

in the fifth round of the

1989 NFL Draft The 1989 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 23–24, 1989, at the Marriott Ma ...

and became a starter by 1993. Despite his lack of height for his position, Montgomery steadily grew into a defensive force throughout his seven years with Houston. In 1996, Montgomery was traded from the Oilers to the Seattle Seahawks.

Death

Montgomery was diagnosed with

Lou Gehrig's Disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most com ...

in July 1997 and died of the disease in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

on June 28, 1998. He was 31 years old. He founded the Glenn Montgomery Foundation, which helped patients coping with the disease. In the months before his death, Montgomery had been working with a Houston television reporter on a series about the effects of the disease. The Houston Muscle Team Dinner, held shortly after Montgomery died, was dedicated to him. The event attracted more than 450 people and raised $107,000 to benefit MDA programs throughout the

Texas Gulf Coast Texas Gulf Coast is an intertidal zone which borders the coastal region of South Texas, Southeast Texas, and the Texas Coastal Bend. The Texas coastal geography boundaries the Gulf of Mexico encompassing a geographical distance relative bear ...

area.

References

External links

* 1967 births 1998 deaths Players of American football from New Orleans American football defensive tackles Houston Cougars football players Houston Oilers players Seattle Seahawks players Neurological disease deaths in Texas Deaths from motor neuron disease {{defensive-lineman-1960s-stub