Pat Glasgow, Millennium Hall of Fame

Baby boomers grew up in the 1960s hoping to change the world, but

few can boast of lasting impressions.

When brand new UCI needed a nickname in 1965, Pat Glasgow, who would

become one of two athletes to earn UCI’s first NCAA All-American honors,

came up with Anteaters.

At a time when the conflict in Vietnam was escalating and college

students were engaged in antiwar demonstrations, Glasgow and two of his

buddies, Skylar Bassett and Bob Ernst, wanted a nickname that “wasn’t a

hunter, killer mascot,” and Anteaters seemed to flow “off the tongue.”

They drew up several designs. Finally, they printed about 200 black

and white copies of the Anteater and the students loved it. “(The copies)

disappeared,” Glasgow said. “Everyone had one in their dorms and cars and

it won (the student election).”

School officials, however, disapproved. They wanted a bear, which

would remain in kinship with the UC system. But upon further review in

the dictionary, the students discovered that an Anteater o7 wasf7 a

bear and UCI President Dr. Dan Aldrich gave the green light.

“(The nickname) got some national recognition right off the bat

(including an article in Sports Illustrated),” said Glasgow, who will be

inducted into the UCI Hall of Fame in February -- not for his nickname

escapade, but swimming and water polo feats.

Glasgow, a Newport Harbor High (Class of ‘63) and Orange Coast College

swimming and water polo standout under aquatics coaches Ted Newland and

Al Irwin, was part of a core of OCC swimmers who followed Irwin to UCI.

“We figured if he was going there, it was good enough for us,” said

Glasgow, a 1965 NCAA water polo All-American as a junior with teammate

Bob Nealy, then an All-American swimmer in the spring of 1967.

As a senior at the ’67 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, Glasgow

accounted for a team-high 42 points and merited All-American accolades in

two strokes as the Anteaters finished second in the nation.

“All of the other schools (at the NCAA Championships) were saying how

they’d never heard of UC Irving, and we kept telling them it’s Irvine.

But at the end of the championships, everybody knew who UC Irvine was,

and (UCI) continued dominating for years after that,” said Glasgow, who,

individually, placed second that year in the 1,650-yard free and third in

the 200 butterfly, the first time UCI was eligible for the NCAA

Championships.

Glasgow, whose father died when he was young, was greatly influenced

by Irwin and Newland, whom he played under at Newport Harbor for three

years.

“They set examples that I’ve tried to use in my life,” he said. “They

provided inspiration and a thought process.”

Under Irwin at Orange Coast, Glasgow was a two-time state swimming

champion and JC All-American, winning the state title in the 500

freestyle as a freshman and participating on the Pirates’ medley relay

that captured the state title in 1965. Both were also national records.

In high school, Glasgow, who weighed only 115 pounds his senior year,

was the 1963 Sunset League champion in the 200 and 400.

As a senior at UCI, he tipped the scales at 155 pounds, then put on 40

pounds during his first year in the U.S. Marine Corps. “It was all that

good military cooking,” he said.

Glasgow, who served four years in the Marines, was an officer who flew

F-4 Phantoms, but never went to Vietnam. “I was glad I didn’t have to put

my life on the line, but, like any competition in sports, when you train

hard for something you want to see if you can play the game,” he said.

While in the service in 1970, Glasgow competed at the CISM Games

(Council of International Sports Military) in Sicily, or the free-world

military Olympics. Glasgow swam the 400, 1,500 and 400 relay.

After the service, Glasgow went to work for the Orange County Harbor

Department, which has since been taken over by the Orange County Sherif’s

Department. For over 20 years he has competed in swimming at the annual

Police Summer Games.

Three years away from retiring from the sherif’s department, Glasgow

hopes to become a head water polo coach at the high school level.

Glasgow, 53, has served as Newland’s assistant polo coach at UCI for

the past three seasons.

Glasgow, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame,

celebrating the millennium, lives in Newport Beach with his wife, Martha.

They have two daughters -- Megan, 23, a UC Berkeley graduate, and Erin,

21, a junior at UC Santa Barbara.