Glenn Petty of Odessa specialized in the 880-yard-run and was part of the dominant mile and two-mile relays for legendary Howard Payne track coach J.H. “Cap” Shelton. The teams regularly competed in the university divisions instead of small-college divisions at major meets like the Drake Relays and Kansas Relays. In 1960, Petty won the Lone Star Conference championship in the 880-yard run with a time of 1:54.5, becoming the first Howard Payne athlete to win a conference running event as a freshman. The 1963 two-mile relay featuring Petty was undefeated during the 1962-63 indoor track season. Petty also ran cross country, producing his most memorable moment at the NAIA National Championship meet in Omaha, Neb., in bitter cold and snow. He lost a shoe, but kept running the four-mile race, finishing 21st among more than 100 entries in the national event and enabling his team to take second place. After graduating from Howard Payne, Petty spent 42 years in education. He earned a master’s degree from Sul Ross while teaching in El Paso. He also taught in Odessa, Big Spring and was track coach at Howard Payne from 1978-80. He spent 26 years in Abilene ISD, first as head track coach at Abilene Cooper before coaching track at HPU. After HPU, he returned to Abilene as principal of Mann Middle School. He was twice named Texas Regional Middle School Principal of the Year. He was Abilene ISD athletic director the last five years of his career. He died in 2023.