DANVERS –Fred Glatz served St. John’s Prep as head football coach, athletic director, and teacher during a career that spanned 32 years at the Catholic, Xaverian Brothers Sponsored School for young men in grades 6 through 12. To celebrate his legacy and the influential role he played at the school, St. John’s will name the newly renovated varsity football field at Cronin Memorial Stadium in his honor. Glatz Field will be dedicated just prior to the start of the season home opener versus Everett High School at 4 pm on Saturday, September 23, 2017.
“He created a legacy of excellence at St. John’s—a legacy that defines our history and will inspire the students who compete on his field to value faith and family in the same way that he has done throughout his life,” said Headmaster Edward P. Hardiman, Ph.D. “Whenever I meet with members of the Prep community, I hear wonderful stories about the way St. John’s has influenced our graduates and shaped the trajectory of their lives. Every story is unique, but they all invariably include anecdotes about a teacher, coach or mentor—someone who made an impact then and continues to inspire today. Fred Glatz figures prominently in many of these stories.”
Glatz, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound split end who punted for the Pittsburgh Steelers during the 1956 season, arrived at St. John’s in 1967, succeeding Paul “Buster” DiVincenzo (a 1950 graduate of St. John’s) as the Prep’s head football coach. Glatz got off to a strong start, coaching his first varsity squad to a 9-0 record and Catholic Conference and Class B titles. He quickly became known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the game, a disciplined approach and, most of all, his commitment to seeing student-athletes succeed on the field and in the classroom.
“Fred always believed in God, family, football and St. John’s,” said John Webb, a class of ’68 graduate of the Prep and co-captain who played on Fred’s first Eagles varsity squad in 1967. “He also believed in his players, helped many of us make the right decisions about college and other critical decisions we faced in life. I still carry many of his life lessons with me.”
Glatz’s football career began at Central Catholic High School in his hometown of Pittsburgh. He went on to play at the University of Pittsburgh. After graduation, he was selected as the second pick in the 20th round of the NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played five games with the Steelers before being drafted in 1956 into the United States Army. Despite his abbreviated pro playing career, Glatz managed the seventh-longest punt of the 1956 NFL season (60 yards) and finished with the 10th-best average yards-per-punt (39.4 yards).
Glatz began his coaching career by leading his U. S. Army team at Fort Benning, Georgia. After his discharge from the service, he returned to Pitt to pursue his master’s degree and served as a graduate assistant coach. He went on to patrol the sidelines as a varsity assistant at UMass Amherst and Boston College before taking the head coaching position at St. John’s.
Glatz stepped down from his post as head coach in 1983 in order to serve as a spectator during the collegiate football careers of his two sons, David (St. John’s Class of 1983), at Wesleyan University, and Bob (St. John’s Class of 1984), at Harvard. By the end of his 17th and final season at the Prep football helm, Glatz had compiled a record of 105-41-7 (.709 winning percentage). He led the Eagles to the 1982 Division 2 Super Bowl title and also earned Division 2 Coach of the Year honors before stepping down. He experienced just one losing season (4-5) in his coaching career at the Prep. In 1989, he was inducted into the St. John’s Prep Athletic Hall of Fame and the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame.
Cronin Memorial Stadium was renovated as part of a larger project that included the construction of the Prep’s new 88,000-square-foot Wellness Center, which opened September 1, 2017. The Wellness Center houses an eight-lane pool, four-court field house, two indoor tracks, space for recreational sports and fitness, and locker rooms. The renovations to the stadium include installing synthetic turf on Glatz Field; expanding the field to regulation size for soccer, lacrosse and football; a 400-meter regulation size track; lights; and new home and visitor bleachers.