GLOVER, FREDERICK AUSTIN “FRED” (5 January 1928-16 August 2001) was a forward and coach for the AHL CLEVELAND BARONS.
Born in Toronto, Glover started playing amateur hockey with the Galt Red Wings of the Ontario Hockey Association. He joined the Omaha Knights of the U.S. Hockey League in 1947, and the following year, was signed by the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. He bounced between the Red Wings and the Indianapolis Capitals of the AHL, and led the Capitols to a sweep of the Barons in the 1950 Calder Cup.
After being part of the Red Wings’ Stanley Cup-winning team in 1952, he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks. He ended up with the AHL St. Louis Flyers before being traded to the Barons in 1953. In a total of 92 games for the Red Wings and Blackhawks, he had 13 goals and 11 assists for a total of 24 points.
From 1962 to 1968, Glover served as player-coach for the Barons. Glover left the Barons in 1968 to become coach of the NHL’s Oakland Seals (ironically, the team that would move to Cleveland in 1976 and be renamed the Barons). He finished his AHL career with three MVP awards (1960, 1962, 1964) and two scoring titles (1957, 1960), and owned league records for games played (1,201), goals (520), assists (814), points (1,334), and penalty minutes (2,402). His AHL career included 992 regular-season games with the Barons, an AHL record for any single team. In each of his 16 AHL seasons, he scored at least 20 goals, and when he left Cleveland, he was third in professional hockey in goals scored, trailing just Maurice Richard and Gordie Howe.
With the Seals, he was named the NHL coach of the year in 1969. He spent three full seasons with Oakland as coach, including two as general manager, before being fired after the first three games of the 1971-72 season. He was then hired as the coach of the Los Angeles Kings. He was fired following the season, and was hired to serve as personnel director for the WHA’s Cleveland Crusaders. He resigned after three weeks and then returned to the Bay Area, where he was coach for the Seals for two more seasons, in which he also served as general manager.
Following his firing again by the Seals, Glover remained in California. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2001, and died shortly thereafter. Glover and his first wife, Marie, were parents of his only child, Nancy. He remarried to Joan, who was his wife at the time of his death. He had two grandsons, and his brother Howie also played for the Barons and in the NHL.
Glover was an inductee into the AHL Hall of Fame in 2006 and the CLEVELAND SPORTS HALL OF FAME in 2008. His number 9 was retired by the Barons in 1969, and then again in 2002, when he and former teammate Johnny Bower were both recognized at QUICKEN LOANS ARENA.
Vincent Guerrieri