James Monroe “Juicy” Glover, Jr.
According to the Noted African Americans Database, “The colored school in Benham was held in an old church with an average attendance of 65 students, though there were 135 Negro children of school age. During the 1918-1919 school term there were six children in the 8th grade at the Benham Colored School. Plans were discussed for a $6,000 brick school house to be built with a playground. “
One of the football players on the Benham Colored School Rams team was James Monroe “Juicy” Glover, Jr. He starred in football and basketball for the Rams. Glover decided he wanted more than to work in the coal mines as his future so he entered Kentucky State College (now KSU). He became the football team’s starting fullback and participated that season in the school’s first interracial football game, scoring the first touchdown in that game, a 39-0 victory over Taylor University.
Glover was drafted into the military in 1953, but came back to Kentucky State in 1956 to once again shine on the football field, this time at linebacker where he was named to the All-American team and was one of the greatest linebackers in the school’s history.
Juicy Glover was drafted a second time, though this time it was the NFL doing the drafting, not Uncle Sam. He was drafted as the first NFL black center. Glover was never placed on an active roster although he was affiliated with the Baltimore Colts and Chicago Bears before he ended his brief career with the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League.
In 1973 James Monroe “Juicy” Glover was inducted into Kentucky State University Hall of Fame. He was also an assistant coach there in the 1990’s.
Mr. Glover passed away on December 10, 2020. He was a resident of Lynch, Ky. and had retired as an assembly line worker for Chrysler Motors.
