By Mitch Abramson
Glenn, Cardozo's lacrosse coach turned a motley group of outcasts, rebels and jocks into teammates.When Glenn died last Thursday at the age of 73, his players, some of them dressed in their playing uniforms, attended the funeral Monday morning at the Weigand Bros. Funeral Home in Williston Park to pay back a coach whose influence was extensive. A player's mother once constructed a mini lacrosse field entirely of chocolate, replicating the scoreboard of Cardozo's win over Tottenville in the PSAL lacrosse final last year that she presented at a banquet after the season.”He was an unbelievable coach,” said Denise Daniels, whose son Brett played three years for Glenn and is on the lacrosse team at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. “He took my son in as if he was his own. I don't have enough nice things to say about the man. He was so much more than just a coach.”Born on Nov. 21, 1932, Glenn taught lacrosse in New York City for more than 40 years, starting at Jamaica HS as an assistant to George Baron before Baron retired in 1987, leaving Glenn in charge. When the school dissolved the program in 1996, Glenn went to Cardozo, where Baron was assisting Pat Bernardo; Glenn was made head coach for the 2003-04 season, and his good friend Baron stayed on as assistant, both volunteering their time pro bono.”Cardozo wouldn't have a program without him,” Baron, 82, said in a phone interview. “He gave them something very special, and he was my best friend for 22 or 23 years. If he was your friend, he would do everything for you. At the funeral I went up to the casket and said, 'you son of a gun, who gave you permission to die?' He was a great, great man.”Glenn took over a moribund program that was 3-4 and went 8-2 his first season, losing to Tottenville 12-8 in the final. The next year he finished 9-1 and defeated Tottenville 16-15 to win the PSAL championship. Glenn grew up in Manhattan, the son of a steam fitter. He fought in the Korean War as a marine and earned three Purple Hearts for valor. He worked as a teacher and dean at Edison HS early in his career and was a former president of the Mineola School District's Board of Education. At the time of his death, he was working on getting a doctorate degree from Long Island University, his son Walter Jr. said.”He got a lot of players into college who wouldn't have normally gone,” Walter Jr. said. “He turned a lot of boys into men. He always had players over at his house to give them counseling. He was like a surrogate father to them.”At the funeral, Glenn's original military uniform was laid out on a trestle; his belt-buckle and brass buttons, yellow with age, were polished by his sons to a spitfire shine with a toothbrush, Daniels said. Glenn leaves behind a wife, Ruth, to whom he was married for 51 years, three sons, Walter Jr., Robert, Bryan and a daughter, Lisa.Cardozo plays its first game on March 21, and Lou DeCicco, who coached at Cardozo before Glenn was promoted, has been mentioned as his likely successor to carry on Glenn's history of patronage to his players.”I have three sons, and I told him it would have been nice if he could have coached them,” said Joseph Cavallo, Cardozo's first year athletic director. “He taught his players a lot about life.” Reach reporter Mitch Abramson by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300 Ext. 130.
