CaMPUS - University of Arkansas at Monticello

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS
The nickname has followed him from Rison High School
to Arkansas A&M, to the Army and through five decades
of service to his community and his University. For
Reginald Glover, it’s about family.
8
R One
UAM MAGAZINE
Red
eginald Glover’s oldest friends call him “Red Hot.” He
got the nickname from a guy named “Red” – Jimmy
“Red” Parker. Parker was the star senior running back
at Rison High School in 1948 while Glover was a
skinny sophomore end who Parker constantly ran over
in practice.
day, Glover decided to get even. “Back in that day,
there was an ointment called Red Hot,” Glover remembers,
a smile creasing his face. “Most every high school dressing
room had that Red Hot ointment.” Glover took a dab and
placed it in Parker’s athletic supporter.
“Red already had a rash in an unfortunate location,” says
Glover, now cackling at the memory. “When he got out on
the practice field, that stuff lit him up pretty good. He was
pointing at me, saying ‘I’m gonna kill you, I’m gonna kill
you!’ He nearly did.”
After practice, Parker grabbed Glover and slammed him
into a locker, only to retrieve him and throw him into the
next one. “He banged me around pretty good,” Glover says.
“When he got through, he said ‘Listen guys, this guy will
be known as Red Hot the rest of his life,’ and I have been.”
Glover carried the name through college at Arkansas
A&M, two years in the military, and a career in business
spanning five decades. He used to receive mail in Rison addressed
to “Red Hot, Rison, Arkansas.” “No last name, just
Red Hot,” says Glover.
Over the years, Glover earned other monikers – visionary
civic leader, tireless volunteer for causes far and wide, a
loyal supporter of higher education.
His latest means more to Glover than the rest – Distinguished
Alumnus of the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
Glover is the 50th recipient of the award.
“I can’t tell you what this means to me,” says Glover. “I
attribute most of the success I’ve had in life to the time I
spent at A&M.”
Born in Woodlawn and raised in Rison, Glover didn’t