Former Haddonfield Soccer, Track Coach Inducted Into Hall Of Fame

HADDONFIELD, NJ — Former Haddonfield Memorial High School soccer and track coach Glenn Gess was among 34 high school coaches and one athletic trainer who were inducted into the New Jersey Scholastic Coaches Association (NJSCA) Hall of Fame.

NJSCA and the NJSIAA co-hosted the annual induction ceremony at Pines Manor in Edison. The program was sponsored by Wilson Sporting Goods.

The program honors coaches from all sports, and from public and non-public secondary schools. All inductees exhibited exceptional coaching skills during their careers, along with strong ethics and integrity.
A total of 16 different counties were represented.

“For those of us who’ve been involved with New Jersey scholastic sports for a long while, this event is tremendously nostalgic,” NJSIAA Executive Director Steve Timko said. “In many cases, the individuals we’ve inducted were fixtures on the high school athletics scene for decades, and had a profound, positive impact on thousands of young people. It’s an honor simply to be associated with them.”

A complete list of honorees is available by following this link.

Gess retired as a coach in 2012 so he could have more time to have time to coach his son in soccer and watch his daughter run cross country.

Gess prided himself on creating a defense-first approach that often featured having 10 players behind the ball. His teams became so good at the style that whenever the Bulldawgs took a 1-0 lead, it felt like the game was over.

As of 2012, he owned more than 270 wins in his coaching career, and finished with just one home loss over eight seasons. He won six South Jersey titles with the Bulldawgs and eight Colonial Conference Liberty Division crowns.

Prior to coming to coach at Haddonfield, Gess held the same title at Haddon Township, where he led the Hawks to a pair of Colonial Conference titles and a Group 1 championship in 2000. He stepped down following the 2002 season, before returning to the sidelines as the Bulldawgs coach in 2004. He still teaches physical education at Haddon Township High School.

Gess is the only coach to lead a squad to the original 10-team Colonial Conference title, the Colonial Patriot title and a Colonial Liberty title.

Patch file photo