Nathaniel Glover Jr.’s story of rising to the leadership helm of Edward Waters College is one of determination, perseverance and help from those who believed in him.
They include a strong mother who kept Glover from dropping out of high school and a police officer and former mayor who helped Glover get the opportunity to take the civil service test to become a police officer.
Glover rose through the ranks at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and, in 1995, became the first African-American elected sheriff in Florida since Reconstruction.
Glover was installed five years ago as the 29th president, after serving as interim president of the historically black college founded in Jacksonville 150 years ago.
You grew up in Jacksonville and you are a graduate of Edward Waters College. What led you there?
It’s not necessarily one of those stories that I think people like to tell. Was this the relentless pursuit of education or maybe I was so motivated by the prospect of gaining knowledge for a future? It wasn’t like that.
I actually wanted to quit school at an earlier point in my life because my peer group in the neighborhood seemed to be doing pretty well and they were not going to school.
Their parents were not insisting that they go to school, so I thought I might want to hang out with them and be kind of like them. One of the guys had a car, the other one always had a pocketful of money seemingly and the other one had a girlfriend. I didn’t have any of that.
I went to my mother and I said, “Mom” — I was trying to cut a deal with her — “You know, some of the other kids are not going to school.”
So she stopped me in the middle of the statement.
She said, “Son, if you’re going to stay in this house, you’re going to school.”
That was the reason I went to school. It was me not getting on the wrong side of her.
So now I’m going to school, trying to get there five minutes before school starts and I’m out of there two minutes after school ends.
But my brother who had preceded me at New Stanton High School was a stellar athlete. I was Eugene Glover’s brother and that way I acquired a little prestige.
That worked for a few years, and in the last part of my 11th-grade year, people started to say: “Yeah, that’s Eugene Glover’s brother and Eugene Glover was a star athlete, but his brother, he’s sorry.”
I was so embarrassed by that, I went and asked the coach if he would allow me to play football. The coach was reluctant because I was in the last part of my 11th-grade year.
But I begged and the coach gave me a chance. I spent one year playing high school football and I got a scholarship to go to Edward Waters College.
When I got to Edward Waters College, the coach told me I’d have to do three things: Play well enough to stay on the team, make certain I completed my lessons so I could stay eligible to play and I had to clean a restroom every day.
If you haven’t cleaned a public restroom, you haven’t lived.
I cleaned that restroom every day and you know where that restroom was located? Ten steps from the president’s office. So I often tell people I made the trip across the hall from the restroom to the president’s office.
The restroom is still there and believe me, it will be there as long as I am there.
You graduated and joined law enforcement.
That wasn’t simple either.
I had been arrested when I was 17 years old, working at Morrison’s Cafeteria. I was stopped by the police one night, they asked me some questions about something else and they searched me.
I had two napkins from the cafeteria. I worked in the dish room — we used them as handkerchiefs — and the detectives arrested me over two napkins.
When I got ready to become a police officer after graduating from Edward Waters College, I couldn’t get any traction.
People told me there was no reason with that arrest record. I didn’t get any responses from my application.
But my brother knew a police officer and told him, “My brother has just graduated from college, he wants to become a police officer and he has an arrest record and he can’t get the opportunity to take the test.”
This police officer, I’ll never forget his name — Marvin Young — said, “Well let me talk to him.” So my brother called and told me that I needed to talk to Marvin Young because he said he knew the mayor.
I had no hopes of that being successful because everybody says they know the mayor. But I talked to Officer Young and when he heard my story he said, “OK, we need to go down and talk to the mayor.” I said, “OK, we’ll do that.”
I didn’t expect to hear from him anymore and then he said, “OK, let’s go.” I knew he didn’t know the mayor, because you just don’t walk in the mayor’s office. So I said, “Now?” He said, “Yes, now.”
I thought OK, well, let me go and get this over with.
We went to City Hall, went to the mayor’s office. When I walked into the mayor’s office with Marvin Young in front of me, the mayor’s secretary jumped up out of her seat and said, “Hey Marvin. How’s the family?”
And I said to myself, “We’re on to something here.”
He introduced me to the mayor and the mayor listened to my story, didn’t dialogue with me that much. I learned later that he went down to the Civil Service Board and made a strong case for giving Nathaniel Glover an opportunity to take the test.
The mayor’s name is Lou Ritter and they said that they just didn’t do that for people who had been arrested. They also reminded him they work for the Civil Service Board, not the mayor, and I think he had to remind them that he appoints the board.
I got an opportunity to sit for the test and the rest is history.
You also made history when you were elected sheriff. What motivated you to seek the office?
Another person intervened in that process and I have to give him credit.
I was a director in the sheriff’s office when Sheriff (Jim) McMillan decided that he was not going to run for re-election. As a highly appointed official, I knew if he was not going to continue as sheriff, I would probably be replaced.
I was getting ready to retire and a local pastor, Rev. John Newman, had just come to Jacksonville from Philadelphia.
In Philadelphia they had just had some breakthroughs as far as blacks being elected to office, and he said, “You know, Nat, you ought to run for sheriff.”
I never thought that was a possibility or likelihood. Then he recruited (attorneys) Steve and Gary Pajcic to help me if I made my mind up to run.
I remember calling Steve and asking him, “Do you think I should run?”
And he said, “Nat, I’m not in the business of telling you whether you should or should not run, but if you run, we’ll help you.”
Although we raised half the money than the other candidates, we made history.
A number of my friends and well-wishers actually wanted me not to run to keep me from being embarrassed.
At that time, there was no history to indicate that an African-American sheriff had ever been elected in Florida, so they thought it was an impossibility and they were trying to protect me.
But I happen to have a little risk-taking in my blood. I don’t gamble, but I do like to go against the odds. And the citizens of Jacksonville came through in a big way.
I actually got elected in the first primary of the sheriff’s race. That made history in the state of Florida.
A Democrat, you ran for mayor in 2003 against Republican John Peyton, who was elected. You would have been the city’s first black mayor, a distinction later earned by Alvin Brown. What did you learn during that campaign that you hadn’t already learned during your campaign for sheriff?
I’ve always believed that the people get it right.
As sheriff, I thought we did some great things. I thought that momentum would carry me over to a victory in the mayor’s race. But the people were not ready for that transition.
I can’t say that they got it wrong, because those were the same people that elected me sheriff in the first place, and reaffirmed that with an 81 percent vote in my second term.
So they said no and I was satisfied with that.
John Peyton was the right man for the right time as I was the right man for the right time in 1995 when I was elected sheriff. There was no remorse whatsoever.
As a matter of fact after I lost to John Peyton, he met with me the morning after the election and asked if I would co-chair his transition committee.
After I asked him a few more questions to ascertain that he was not insane, I agreed to do that, and we’ve been friends since.
I’m also working with (Republican) Mayor (Lenny) Curry to try to do what’s best for Jacksonville in the “Yes for Jacksonville” campaign.
The way I look at Jacksonville, I’m convinced that both parties have value and we should be working together rather than working apart.
Losing the mayor’s race set you on the path toward your current position. Did you envision serving as president of Edward Waters College?
After the citizens of Jacksonville retired me, I enjoyed three years of retirement. People were appreciative of my terms as sheriff. I would go to restaurants and sit down and eat and couldn’t pay for meals.
I would walk in certain places and people would applaud, like some kind of rock star, and I’m not overstating that. It was embarrassing to me, because I’m one of those individuals who doesn’t feel like I’m that big of a deal anyway. But that’s not modesty, that’s probably my own unbalance.
I was doing pretty well and the murder rate spiked in the city. I was talking with the sheriff and the mayor about what I thought. I wanted to stay out of their way.
But this lady stopped me one night and I’ll always think she was kind of an angel. She talked about the Lord having blessed me with this, that and the other, and I’m just sitting around and people are dying and I have the ability to help, and why don’t I?
I was trying to disengage with her, but she would not let me go. She started crying and holding onto me and saying, “How can you sit around and see people dying and not help us?”
Nothing shook me like that woman shook me that night. I couldn’t wait until the next morning, because I had to talk to somebody.
And the only person that I could talk to who possibly could relate was John Delaney (president of the University of North Florida). He was mayor at the same time I was sheriff.
I called to ask if he was getting that kind of pressure, too. I really wanted somebody to say to me, don’t worry about it. But he wanted to talk to me about something else. And I went over there and he hired me as his adviser to help poor kids get into college and that was the Jacksonville Commitment.
When Edward Waters College needed a president, they asked me to be president, but the deal was interim. Six years, later I’m still here.
Describe your leadership style.
I try to put people in positions that will allow them to serve in a meritorious way, not marginally, but well enough where they will shine.
Now, they have to be the best selection for Edward Waters College and they have to demonstrate to all of the other constituents that the leader –– that’s me — made a good choice, used good judgment and is smart enough to pick the right person. That’s my style.
What else would you like to share?
I love the people of Jacksonville, I love Jacksonville. They certainly stepped up big time to help me and I’m going to always do what’s best for Jacksonville.
When you look at what we’ve been able to do here, we are a great city, but I’m not sure everybody sees us that way.
Think about it. We elected an African-American sheriff, first in the state of Florida. We had an African-American mayor here, a major city in Florida.
City Council passed a (2008 Jacksonville Journey) bill — $31 million — for crime prevention, and that’s unheard of, because people want to see more people going to jail. We did it differently here in Jacksonville.
We don’t have to go to other cities to see what other people are doing. People should be coming to Jacksonville to see what we’re doing.
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Best advice
“The best advice that I have received is to go beyond expectations.”
Biggest surprise
“The biggest surprise during my career was being appointed captain of the football team and being selected as president of a college.”
Spark of wisdom
“The one spark of wisdom that I would like to share with young people is to be willing to go in early, work late and go the extra mile.”
Decision you would take back
“For the most part in retrospect, my mistakes have turned out to be good for me.”
Decision you would have made
“I would have paid closer attention to the intricate workings of higher education when I was taking classes at the University of North Florida.”
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Name, Age
Nathaniel Glover Jr., 73
Job
29th president of Edward Waters College
Hometown
Jacksonville
Education
• Bachelor’s degree in social science, Edward Waters College
• Master’s degree in education, University of North Florida
• Honorary doctorate degrees of law from Edward Waters College and UNF
• Graduate of the FBI National Academy, 1989 class of Leadership Jacksonville and 2016 Leadership Florida Class IX.
Career path
• Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office: Joined Nov. 12, 1966; became investigator in the Detective Division in 1969; promoted to sergeant in 1974; headed Police Hostage Negotiation Team from 1975-86; served as chief of services 1986-88; appointed deputy director of Police Services; named director of Police Services in 1991; and elected Jacksonville sheriff, serving 1995-2003.
• Mayor’s office/community: Served as co-chair and then chair of Mayor John Peyton’s Transition Team in 2003, after losing to Peyton in a runoff and served on the transition team and other community boards 2003-06.
• Education: Became special adviser to UNF President John Delaney in November 2006; was asked to serve as interim president at Edward Waters College in May 2010; and named president Feb. 12, 2011.
Hobbies/avocations
Leadership training
Family
Married to Doris J. Bailey, two children, two grandsons and a granddaughter.
Community service
• President pro-tempore of the Board of Trustees at St. Stephen AME Church
• Board and advisory service with Jacksonville Civic Council, JAX Chamber, New Town Success Zone, UF Health Jacksonville, HabiJax, Timucuan Trail Parks Foundation, Tiger Academy, OneJax, The Bridge of Northeast Florida and Take Stock in Children (emeritus)
• Judicial Nominating Commission of the Middle District Conference for the 114th Congressional Term
• 2016-17 president of the Florida Association of Colleges
• Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF) Council of Presidents
• Co-chair of the Yes for Jacksonville mayoral pension reform initiative
Awards include
• Outstanding alumnus awards from Edward Waters College, University of North Florida and Leadership Jacksonville
• FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award
• Liberty Bell Award from The Jacksonville Bar Association
• Law and Spirituality Award from the Catholic Lawyers Guild
• Junior Achievement of North Florida Thompson S. Baker “Solid as a Rock” award
• June 30, 2015, proclaimed Nat Glover Day in the city of Jacksonville
• The Great Floridian Award from Gov. Rick Scott
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First Coast Success: Nathaniel Glover Jr.
The Daily Record interviewed Glover for “First Coast Success,” a regular segment on the award-winning 89.9 FM flagship First Coast Connect program, hosted by Melissa Ross. These are edited excerpts from the interview.
The interview was scheduled for broadcast this morning and will replay at 8 p.m. on the WJCT Arts Channel or at wjct.org/ondemand.
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