The unsung story of coach Eau Claire legend George Glymph

George Glymph isn’t one to bring attention to himself, but luckily, others don’t feel the same way.

Glymph’s life and coaching exploits at Eau Claire High, the NBA and impact on his players will be on display in the documentary “Pride, Poise and Dedication: The Unsung Story of Coach George Glymph.”

The documentary will have its Columbia-area premiere on June 4 at Eau Claire.

“I always said, if you got to tell someone who you is, then you ain’t,” Glymph said. “I never talk about myself. For them to do this, I am deeply honored and blessed. It is beyond my wildest dreams.”

The idea for the documentary began in 2012 when George Williams, one of the film’s producers, attended a roast in Glymph’s honor and heard the many stories told about the Hall of Fame coach. Williams contacted his friend George Tillman, a classmate at Fisk University, about getting it made.

The documentary includes interviews from NBA Hall-of-Famers Alex English and Isiah Thomas, and former Eau Claire standouts such as Jermaine O’Neal and Thaddeus Delaney.

The documentary will shed some light on Glymph, who’s still regarded as one of the best to ever coach in Columbia, 20 years after his career at Eau Claire ended.

“Outside of (former South Carolina coach) Frank McGuire, there is not a more revered basketball coach from the Columbia area in the last 50 years than George Glymph,” said Carey Rich, a former guard at rival C.A. Johnson. “He is the coach of coaches. He was a great coach and a great teacher. He deserves every moment of appreciation he gets.”

Rich never played for Glymph at Eau Claire, but played for him during AAU basketball when Columbia squads were a who’s who of the city’s best players. Glymph and the other coaches in Columbia took turns coaching the AAU programs in the summer, and they were ranked among the nation’s best.

“I’m not bashing AAU, but a lot of times today they don’t have time to teach the fundamentals because you’re always going here and going there,” Glymph said. “When we were doing it, we had practices and taught them fundamentals, and I think that is why I think we were so good. “

Changing the culture at Eau Claire

Glymph ran his AAU practices much like he did of his teams Eau Claire – with a no-nonsense, disciplined approach.

That strategy helped built the Shamrocks into a powerhouse. Eau Claire won five state titles, two in Class 4A and three straight in 3A from 1989-95. Glymph won his first title with a “no-name team” which lost all five starters from the season before.

Glymph won 447 games at Eau Claire from 1974-96, and was coach of the McDonald’s All-America team in 1987.

The Shamrocks are the only team from South Carolina to win the Beach Ball Classic, when they defeated Archbishop Malloy in 1986. Archbishop featured future NBA player Kenny Anderson.

“No one gave us a chance to win that,” Glymph said of the Beach Ball win. “They said we couldn’t press them, but that is the only way we know how to play.”

Glymph got off to a rocky start in his career as the Shamrocks went 6-16 in his first season. That was a wakeup call for him. He admits he was a “hot head” for his antics during the games, which included his share of technical fouls and mistakes down the stretch.

From there, he vowed to change. He cleaned up his act on the sideline and demanded the same from his players, who had to treat referee calls as gospel and weren’t allowed to get technical fouls.

Glymph didn’t allow his players to wear hats in the gym, or earrings.

“He demanded respect,” said former Eau Claire and South Carolina standout Joe Rhett. “He wasn’t that big, but we were all afraid of him. He is such a great guy. I did have a dad, but a lot of the guys didn’t, and he would act as our father figure.

“He gave us a foundation and treated everyone fair. I needed to be pushed, but he knew I could take it, so he knew what button to push.”

Glymph said his tactics were to mold his players both on and off the court.

“If they weren’t a better kid when they left me then when I got them, then I failed them,” Glymph said. “We wanted to make Eau Claire area proud. When I got there, Eau Claire was crime-infested.

“To be an Eau Claire Shamrock, you had to be special. You couldn’t get in any problems and you had to do your lessons. You had to be a good role model and good citizen. We changed the culture with basketball.”

Glymph, who graduated second in his class at Booker T. Washington High, made his players get their grades from their teachers each week and bring them to him. He wanted everyone to have no lower than a C. Rhett said those that were in the “D and F troop” were forced to run extra after practice.

Glymph made sure his players were in great shape and made them run cross country in the fall to get ready for basketball season. His players needed to be in good shape for the type of style Glymph wanted to play.

Glymph’s teams were known for their full-court pressure “44 and 21” defense, and also the 2-2-1 press with his post players at the front of the defense.

“That was our trademark. We would press on everything,” Glymph said. “If you came with only one point guard, you weren’t going to make it. We were going to tear you down.”

While Glymph’s teams would turn up the press on defense, he would turn up the heat in the Rock Pit, the nickname for Eau Claire’s gymnasium. That drew the ire of some opposing coaches and fans, but Glymph said those complaints “went in one ear and out the other.”

The 800-seat Rock Pit was the place to be on Tuesdays and Fridays. Glymph said if you didn’t get there during the girls game, you weren’t getting into the gym. He also remembers kids trying to sneak in even through the roof to see the Shamrocks play.

Rich, who later played at USC, called the Rock Pit one of the best environments he ever played in, even though it was the site of one of his worst performances during his high school career.

“I played in some great places in the SEC, but that was nothing like going to the Rock Pit on a Friday night,” Rich said.

O’Neal era

Glymph coached several players who went on to college basketball careers and seven “Mr. Basketballs.” The most famous was O’Neal, who played in the NBA for 16 seasons and was part of the Shamrocks’ squads in the early 1990s.

“He dominated the game more than anyone I ever had because he could score on one end and intimidate and block shots on the other,” Glymph said.

O’Neal and Glymph’s relationship didn’t get off to a good start when O’Neal approached Glymph on the way to JV football practice.

“He saw me and his word was ‘Hey, Glymph, I’m going to be the best player you ever had,’” Glymph said. “I said ‘Son, I am Mr. Glymph or Coach Glymph. If you can’t call me by that, then you can’t call my name again.’ That stuck out to him.”

Glymph pushed O’Neal with tough love and motivated him. When O’Neal began contemplating going from high school straight to the NBA, Glymph told him he didn’t have a good enough jump shot to play in the league.

So, Glymph and O’Neal worked tirelessly on improving that part of his game the final two years. O’Neal averaged nearly a triple-double his junior year and was named Mr. Basketball during his senior season.

“All I had to do was to tell him he couldn’t do something and he would prove me wrong,” Glymph said.

O’Neal was a first-round pick by Portland in the 1997 NBA Draft, and played with the Blazers, Indiana, Toronto, Boston and Golden State. He was a six-time All-Star and the league’s Most Improved Player in 2002. He and Glymph remain close, and the former Eau Claire coach went to Dallas last year to work out O’Neal as he was looking to plan a return to the NBA.

O’Neal’s USA basketball jersey hangs in one of Glymph’s room’s at his house with a special message on the left side of it.

“To Coach Glymph, thanks for everything that you have done for me and all the things that you are going to do for me and my career. But most of all, I thank you for being a father to me. I love you and thanks again for everything!!!”

Life in the NBA

Glymph followed O’Neal to the NBA when the Portland Trail Blazers hired him as a director of player development. At the time, there weren’t any coaches making the jump from coaching in high school to the pros. But with Glymph’s connection to O’Neal, and his former player struggling to adapt to the NBA, it seemed like a natural fit.

Glymph had opportunities to leave Eau Claire before. Former USC coach George Felton asked him to join the Gamecocks’ staff. It seemed like a logical move -- Rhett andBarry Manning, two of Glymph’s former players, were playing at USC.

But at the urging of some of the team’s seniors, Glymph declined USC’s offer. Dean Smith, the late North Carolina coach, read of Glymph’s decision and sent Glymph a note. Glymph has that letter framed in a case along with his many other trophies and honors in one of the rooms of his house.

Glymph’s first stint in the NBA lasted just one year. He found out about his firing by reading it in USA Today and was “devastated.” So he returned to Eau Claire and was in charge of discipline.

Glymph returned to the NBA a few years later after a meeting with Isiah Thomas, the former Detroit Piston who was the coach of the Indiana Pacers at the time. Thomas and general manager Donnie Walsh, a former USC assistant, flew to Columbia to work out O’Neal. Indiana was looking at trading for the power forward, and Glymph put him through a workout in the sweltering August heat inside the Rock Pit.

The Pacers liked what they saw in O’Neal, and Thomas became enamored in Glymph.

Thomas wanted Glymph to work with O’Neal, who was just 21 at the time, and the Pacers’ two other younger players, Al Harrington and Jonathan Bender. All three players went from high school to the NBA, and needed that veteran presence to aid their development.

“I was flabbergasted,” Glymph said of being asked to join the Pacers’ staff. “Isiah liked how I was teaching Jermaine and wanted me to teach them the same thing. What they needed in the NBA was fundamentals and coaches around here like Tim Whipple, Carl Williams and Ben Trapp were kind of fundamental coaches. And that is why I had a job.”

Glymph held Thomas in high regard as both wore No. 11 in their playing days. The two struck a bond that remains close to this day. Glymph coached three seasons with Thomas in Indiana. The two were reunited a few years later with the New York Knicks when Thomas was the club’s director of basketball operations.

Enjoying retirement

After his career as an NBA assistant ended in 2007, Glymph returned to Columbia where he is “fully retired.”

Glymph and his wife stay busy with their six grandchildren who live in the area. The 73-year-old, who’s in good health after a stroke two years ago, also stays active by bowling in two leagues and maintaining a 180 average.

But Glymph’s love of basketball isn’t gone. He doesn’t watch it as much on TV, but still loves working with kids and talking about the game.

Glymph has worked with players over the past few years, including this summer with North Carolina’s Brice Johnson, who went on to an All-American season and a probable first-round selection at the NBA Draft.

And on occasion, Glymph will like to reminisce of his coaching days. He has two rooms in his house with memorabilia, scrapbooks and tapes. Glymph also keeps in touch his former players, with some still calling their former coach on a weekly basis.

“When I started out, I never imagined anything like this would happen,” Glymph said. “I go eat out a lot and people come up to me and say, ‘Coach, thank you for doing this and that.’ People that I never coached come up and say how impressed they were with our teams and the way we acted. That means a lot that I did have an impact.”

This story was originally published May 28, 2016 at 5:19 PM with the headline "The unsung story of coach Eau Claire legend George Glymph."