Alumnus shares Truman tales

As a student-athlete at Northeast Missouri State University from 1988-90, Glenn Jacobs patrolled the football field as an offensive lineman and the basketball hardwood as a forward.

The single-season and career field goal percentage leader for the University's men's basketball team, Jacobs now patrols a different type of athletic surface - the squared circle. Jacobs, a.k.a. Kane, is a World Wrestling Entertainment Superstar known for chokeslamming opponents and wreaking general havoc.

The Index recently spoke to Jacobs by phone to ask him about his time here and how he went from being a basketball and football player to a professional wrestler.

Index: What were you like as a student at Northeast? Were you an outgoing person? A partier? A quiet, studious student?

Jacobs: I was probably a mixture of all that, I'd say. I didn't study as much as I wanted to and probably was a partier more than I should have been. For the most part, I was a pretty serious student. I took academics seriously. I played football and basketball when I was there, and I took those seriously too. Like I said, I was probably a combination of all that. I don't think I fit into any of the categories exclusively.

I: What did you do for fun when you were here at Northeast?

J: To this day I still do the same things - that was about when the first Nintendo came out so we played video games. I trained quite a bit. That was actually a lot of fun - going to the gym with the guys. We played pick-up sports and stuff like that and, of course, on weekends we'd go out and try to stay out of trouble. I wasn't in a fraternity, though, and I don't think I belonged to any clubs.

I: I understand you were an English major when you were here. What did you plan to do with that?

J: I was going to teach. I got stuck when the University was changing over from a four-year program where you get your bachelor's in education to the five-year program where you could get your master's in education.

I kind of got stuck in the transition. I was going to teach, but I never got my teaching certificate. I have a degree in English, but I don't have a certificate to teach it.

I: Does your English degree ever come in handy? Do you ever plan to make use of it again, or are you pretty much through with it?

J: It still does [come in handy] as far as what I do now and the creativity of it. Having a background in literature definitely helps.

I: Do you remember what residence hall you lived in while you were here?

J: I don't remember the name of it. I was only there for a semester, and then I moved off campus.

I: What professors did you have that you enjoyed?

J: I had a couple in the English department that I really liked. Their names escape me for the moment. The chairman of the English department, I believe his name was Herman Moore, taught the capstone English class, and I liked him a lot. I liked that class a lot.

I: What about some of your coaches? Who of them were you close to?

J: [Former football coach John] Ware and I got along really well. He's a great guy. Also, when I first went to play basketball there, coach Willard Sims took me, and he didn't have to.

That helped me out a lot. I'm forever indebted to those guys because I don't think I'd be where I am today if they hadn't done for me what they did and been there for me and been supportive.

When you're a young person, you don't realize the impact other people have on your life until you look back on it.

I: When did you develop a love for wrestling? Looking back through old issues of the Index, I saw that the World Wrestling Federation came to Kirksville when you were a student here.

J: I remember going to that show. Me and some buddies went to it. I've been a fan [of wrestling] all my life. When I was going to school, that was when Hulk Hogan was at his prime, and the sports entertainment business was hitting a definite peak. I'd always been a fan and thought it was great entertainment.

I: When did you decide to go into professional wrestling?

J: As soon as I got out of school. I'd suffered a pretty bad knee injury playing football.

I was still trying to play professionally, and, like I said, I'd always thought wrestling was pretty neat, so I thought I'd give it a little bit of a whirl. That's basically how it happened.

I: Tell me a little about yourself before you got to Northeast. Where'd you grow up?

J: I grew up near Bowling Green, Mo. I went to Bowling Green High School. I played basketball there. I grew up on a farm.

I: Why did you decide to attend Northeast?

J: I went to Quincy College for a year and a half and played basketball there. Unfortunately, during my second year there, I wasn't real happy with my situation, and I felt like I needed a change so I transferred to Northeast the second semester of that year.

I went [to Northeast] partially because it was close to home and also because it had a good academic reputation.

It was a medium-sized school. It wasn't as big as the University of Missouri-Columbia or someplace like that where I was afraid I'd basically become just a number.

So I was looking for someplace where the professors would learn my name as opposed to sitting in a big lecture hall with 200 other kids.

I: Do you enjoy being a professional wrestler?

J: Yeah, I enjoy it. It's provided me with a great living. I don't know that I enjoy the travel that much anymore because I'm away from home quite a bit. But it beats working for a living.

I: What do you do in your free time now?

J: I don't have that much free time. I still play video games a little bit. I read quite a bit.