Football Hall of Fame Profile: Steve Glenn and the fine art of long-snapping
The largest class of inductees in Gee-Gees Football Hall of Fame history will be enshrined this year; three teams and two individuals have been selected for the honour. There are five decades of Gee-Gees history being celebrated; the 1960, 1970, and 1980 championship-winning teams will all go in to the Hall of Fame this year along with defensive standouts Steve Glenn and Sébastien Tétreault.
The Hall of Fame inductions will take place at the 2022 edition of the annual Touchdown Dinner, which is slated for April 23 at Lago (Dow's Lake).
Steve Glenn was a workhorse for the Gee-Gees from 1990-1994 and became known as a dependable defensive standout as the team re-built a foundation of success. For Glenn that success carried into the CFL where he enjoyed a ten-year professional playing career – one of the longest in Gee-Gees alumni history. And it was long-snapping that kept him going.
"I always prided myself on being a tenacious, hard-hitting player who would line up and do it again all game long," says Glenn of his own style at linebacker. What made Glenn unique was his ability to perform stellar work at linebacker while focusing intently on contributing to the special teams. "I took a great amount of pride in my long snapping. That was my job and I wanted to be the best at it."
Before joining the Gee-Gees, Glenn was the Ottawa city champion in shot put for Cairine Wilson S.S. He set an NCSSAA meet record in 1990, and also set a discus record that year. A coveted football recruit, Glenn recalls turning down plenty of offers from other universities to stay and play for the hometown Garnet and Grey.
"As a Gee-Gee you really played for the love of the game. Being able to play at home, in front of family and friends really meant a lot," recalls Glenn, who also remembers the stress of the coaching change which came after his first season. After seven years, the Jim Daley era was at an unceremonious end following a 3-4 regular season campaign in 1990.
"We weren't sure if we were going to even have a team - we had no coaches. That was certainly a stressful time," says Glenn. "Then the school hired Larry Ring as the head coach and he took a broken team and in my four years with him, he taught us how to win."
"Each year we kept adding pieces to the puzzle, making small changes to get the right mix. By the end of my career we had some fantastic skill position players and our defence was relentless."
The extremely active heart of that relentless defence was Glenn himself. He was second in the OQIFC in total tackles in 1991, led the conference in 1992, and was third in 1994. He finished his career with 290 total tackles, which ranks second in Gee-Gees history*.
"I would like to think that our defence was a tough, hard-nosed group who other teams really didn't want to play. I always prided myself on being that type of player and I think that was the mindset we all adopted."
He was the Gee-Gees leader in tackles in 1994 as the team took first place in the conference with a 6-1 record. That year he was named a conference all-star for the third time, having been a unanimous selection in 1992.
"I wish we could have won a couple more in '94," says Glenn, underscoring the quality of that team and how the program had grown. But he takes the long view and enjoyed seeing the championships roll in the next few years. "The Gee-Gees became a winning team; I like to think those years I was there were the foundation that the winning teams were based off of."
Starting in 1996, Glenn was celebrate those Gee-Gees championships as a pro. He played seven games with BC and one with Montreal in 1996, resigning with BC for 1997 and 1998. His career blossomed in 1999 as he played 18 games in his first of three seasons of playing every day with Winnipeg. In 2002 he moved back to Ottawa and continued to feature prominently for three more seasons before finishing his career with one season in Saskatchewan. He totaled 94 tackles in 141 games over his ten-year CFL career.
During his playing career Glenn had found a passion working with volunteer fire departments. In 2008 Steve became a full-time firefighter with the City of Ottawa, where he still works today.
"It's a job that revolves around teamwork and taking care of your responsibilities," said Glenn in an interview as he was considering moving from football to firefighting. The responsibility of the long-snapping position was certainly a factor in Glenn's CFL career as the position became specialized and afforded a roster spot. Glenn credits Don Smith, who he met at his first Gee-Gees training camp in 1990, with introducing him to long-snapping duties.
When signed by the Ottawa Renegades, general manager Eric Tillman was quoted as saying that Glenn was, "unquestionably second to none in this league as a special teams contributor." Glenn was named the Renegades special teams player of the year for 2002.
In 2014, he founded Elite Longsnapping to help coach the next generation at his position. "My passion is to help teach and mentor young athletes in the fine art of long-snapping," Glenn explains.
"Playing in the CFL was a dream come true and I had a blast over my 10 years but there is always a soft spot for my Gee-Gees," says Glenn now as he reflects on his Hall of Fame career. "To this day there are a bunch of us that will get together and reminisce about our days at OU. It gave us lifelong friendships."
Steve Glenn Gee-Gees Career Profile
OQIFC All-Star: 1991, 1992 (unanimous), 1994
1990: 45 tackles
1991: 73 tackles (2nd in conference)
1992: 67 tackles (1st in conference)
1993: 45 tackles
1994: 60 tackles (3rd in conference)
Career tackles: 290 (2nd in team history)*
Career sacks: 5
Career interceptions: 2
He is one of eight Gee-Gees alumni to play 10 or more seasons in the CFL:
Miles Gorrell – 19 (OL)
Rocky DiPietro – 14 (SB)
Darren Joseph – 13 (RB)
Dale Potter – 12 (LB)
Chris Gioskos – 10 (OL)
Steve Glenn – 10 (LB/LS)
Neil Lumsden – 10 (RB)
Eric Upton – 10 (OL)
*Note, tackle statistics are only available starting in the 1984 season.