Clarence Glover

Clarence Glover (born November 1, 1947) is a retired American National Basketball Association (NBA) player, who played in college at Western Kentucky (1968–1971). Glover was a forward at 6'8" and 210 lb.

Early life

Born in Horse Cave, Kentucky, Glover attended Caverna High School in Horse Cave, where he played both baseball and basketball.

College career Glover helped lead the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers to the 1971 NCAA Final Four.

In the 1971 NCAA tournament Western Kentucky advanced by defeating Jacksonville 74–72, in-state rival Kentucky 107–83 and Ohio State 81–78 to reach the Final Four. In the Final Four, the Hilltoppers lost to the Villanova Wildcats 92–89 in double overtime. They then defeated Kansas 77–75 in the NCAA Third place game. Glover had 16 points, 17 rebounds and 3 assists against Jacksonville; 18 points, 17 rebounds and 8 assists in the win vs Kentucky; 11 points, 22 rebounds and 2 assists in the win over Ohio State. In the Final Four, Glover had 12 points and 20 rebounds in the loss to Villanova and 10 points 13 points and 3 assists in his career finale in the win vs Kansas.

The 6.8" Glover averaged 8.4 points, 10.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists for the season.

The 1971 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers was the first non-HBU Kentucky collegiate basketball team to start five African-American players. Coach John Oldham started Glover, Jim McDaniels, Jim Rose, Jerry Dunn and Rex Bailey. McDaniels had recruited Glover and the others after signing at WKU. Oldham was pressured not to start all five together, but said "they are my best five players."

For his career at Western Kentucky, Glover averaged 6.9 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 80 games. He was also strongly pursued by the Carolina Cougars of the ABA but chose to sign on with the Celtics mentioning better competition and better money.

Glover then joined the Hartford Chiefs of the Eastern League. He came back to the Celtics for his second season and was among 18 players for 12 spots. Celtics General Manager Red Auerbach, said: "Glover appears to have poise now and he's improved 200 percent on his outside shot, but he still needs improvement. What bothered me about Clarence when he first joined the team was that he was strung like a violin which is out of tune and always busting. He was releasing the ball for a shot too soon after getting it on the fastbreak and blowing layups. I don't mind a couple of mistakes but he was making too many."

Career statistics

NBA Source

Regular season Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG

Playoffs Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG

Honors Glover was inducted into the Western Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007.