Villanova Univeristy Athletics

A versatile player for Villanova who led the team in receiving yards three times and rushing yards twice, Larry Glueck followed his collegiate career by playing three seasons in the NFL and winning a league championship with the Chicago Bears. He was a member of the Wildcats varsity squad from 1960-62 and graduated from Villanova in 1963. Glueck was inducted to the Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1986.
 
During his collegiate career Glueck played for Hall of Fame coach Alex Bell and was a part of teams that were a combined 15-5 and made consecutive bowl game appearances his junior and senior years. Glueck amassed 943 rushing yards and 678 receiving yards during his career. He wound up with 1,789 career all-purpose yards, 14 touchdowns and five two-point conversions. Glueck averaged 5.61 yards per rush during his career, a figure which was ranked second in school history at the time of his Hall of Fame induction and still ranked ninth in the Wildcats record book more than 60 years after he graduated.
 
As a sophomore in 1960, Glueck led Villanova with 125 receiving yards on 11 catches to go along with rushing for 203 yards on 51 carries and returning two kickoffs for 37 yards. He broke out as a junior in 1961 with 760 all-purpose yards and a team-high 50 points scored. Glueck led the Wildcats in both rushing and receiving for the 1961 season. He ran for 400 yards and three touchdowns on 60 carries, with his average of 6.67 yards per rush ranking second in school history at the time. Glueck had 19 receptions for 318 yards and two scores on the year and recorded three interceptions on defense which he returned for a total of 42 yards and a touchdown.
 
Villanova went 8-2 in 1961, its most wins in 12 years, and defeated Wichita State by a 17-9 count in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. Following the season, Glueck switched from right halfback to the left side and once again led the team in rushing and receiving as a senior in 1962. He ran for 340 yards and five touchdowns, caught 17 passes for 235 yards and a score and returned eight punts for 46 yards. In a 31-6 win over West Chester in the 1962 season opener, Glueck hauled in a career-long 68-yard touchdown reception from Rich Richman. The team maintained its success from a year earlier and went 7-3 on the season, including a narrow 6-0 defeat at the hands of heavily-favored Oregon State in the Liberty Bowl played in Philadelphia.
 
Glueck was selected by the Chicago Bears with the 34^th overall pick in the fifth round of the 1963 NFL Draft. He played in 37 games for the Bears over the next three seasons and had one career interception during the 1963 season when the Bears were 11-1-2 and won the league championship. Prior to the 1963 draft, Glueck played in the College All-Star Game in which a team of collegiate standouts played against the defending NFL champion Green Bay Packers and remarkable came away with a 20-17 win.
 
Following his playing career, Glueck coached in both the collegiate and high school ranks. He had a stint as an assistant coach with the Wildcats and was the head coach at Fordham from 1986-93. He was a two-time Liberty Football Conference Coach of the Year and oversaw Fordham’s transition from Division III into a I-AA program playing in the Patriot League. Glueck also worked as an assistant coach at Harvard, Penn and Lehigh.
 
An injury ended Glueck’s professional playing career and he became a teacher at Bridgeport High School while assisting Bell on the Villanova coaching staff. When the Upper Merion and Bridgeport school districts merged, Glueck joined the Upper Merion coaching staff. He was inducted to the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame in 2009.