WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Two linemen from Luzerne County are in the middle of the trenches and the playoffs. The Giants' Mark Glowinski grew up in Wilkes-Barre. His journey took him from Lackawanna College to West Virginia to the three NFL teams, but it began at G.A.R., playing for Tony Khalife.
"His senior year, he just flourished," former G.A.R. Football Coach Khalife recalled. "He really played well. He dominated people up front. He was the leader on the line and the next step was to get him to a Lackawanna where coach (Mark) Duda did a great job getting him to where he had to be."
"Mark's a really interesting story," Lackawanna College Football Coach Mark Duda added. "He came here and really worked himself into being a Division I player and I don't think it's really ever been easy, right? He never had an easy path. Everybody's talking about a G.A.R. High School guy, good football player, but nobody ever dreamed he'd be in this level. So, great to see a good person have good things happen to him."
"I have a sense of pride," Khalife added. "I can't fool anybody, I do. To coach somebody and see him have this type of success, it's just great."
Another offensive lineman from Luzerne County will suit up on Sunday with Dallas. Connor McGovern is a few years younger than Glowinski. His path to the NFL, a bit more straight forward -- from the black turf here at Lake-Lehman to Penn State to the Cowboys, where's he's spent his entire NFL career.
"Every time the Cowboys come on, my son's yelling for me," Lake-Lehman Football Coach Jerry Gilsky said. "Just to have that connection that somebody's on that stage of life right now and to be a part of it and watch it, to say 'hey, I coached that kid' or my son and daughter say 'I know him.' I think a lot of people will always say how hard he works and you need hard work and everything else like that. I think every forgets the component with family."
"There's a tremendous sense of pride," Connor's father, Jim McGovern, Lake-Lehman's Superintendent said. "Obviously, he has size and he has strength. He has the work ethic, but you hear that about a lot of different athletes out there, but he has a mental toughness. I think that comes from being the baby of three boys. I'm waiting for the time where they actually throw him a pass or they allow him to run the ball, which would be every big boy's dream out there, but it's nice to know for me when I see him in those positions that they are game planning around him, knowing what his strengths are and any time you're that much of a focus in the offense, where they can use you as the focal point of any attack, is a great honor."