Shippensburg University Athletics

The late Clarence Glessner led Shippensburg University men’s track and field team to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship in 1931. He was the only male athlete in the history of the conference championships to win four individual titles at one meet. In addition he won a fifth gold medal as part of the Red Raiders’ winning mile relay team.

Glessner first made an impact at the conference championships during his junior year in 1930. Both his individual performances were new meet records and the mile relay team broke the old record by eight seconds.

In 1931, the team finished its year by winning the conference championship. Glessner won the high jump and 220 yard low hurdles and won the 120 yard high hurdles in a meet record time and set another meet record by winning the long jump. The team championship was decided in the last event, the mile relay. Ed Weaver, Waldo Yohe, Glessner and Jack Green won the race handily with a new meet record time of 3:30.1 and Shippensburg won the meet by one point over West Chester. The mile relay meet record was not broken at the PSAC championships until 1957.

In addition to this track exploits Glessner lettered in cross country his junior and senior years and lettered in football in his sophomore year.

Glessner was born in Maryville and grew up in Enola. He graduated from Harrisburg Tech High School. Following graduation from Shippensburg, Glessner taught English in Enola, at Susquehanna Township and at Harrisburg Community College for several years. He then served on the faculty at Shippensburg University from 1947 to 1971. He wrote and published fly fishing articles for the Pennsylvania Angler Magazine and regularly had his poetry published in the Harrisburg newspapers. Glessner started a radio program which presented Shakespeare at WKBO radio in Harrisburg and he later branched into original dramas, some of which he wrote. Glessner died in 1987.