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Tonganoxie High grad still playing ball

By Shawn Linenberger - | Feb 17, 2015

A Tonganoxie High School graduate is more than a decade removed from his prep career is still playing basketball.

And now it’s for an area semi-pro team.

Jordan Glenn, a 2002 THS graduate, is now a member of the Missouri Rhythm, an American Basketball Association team that plays in Grandview, Mo.

Glenn was a small forward while at THS and then played as a shooting guard at Brown Mackie College in Salina.

Glenn has played several years in city leagues, as well as at Fort Leavenworth, but something online caught his eye a few months ago.

He saw tryouts for the Kansas City areas ABA team and took a shot at making the team.

The THS graduate made the first cut, then the second and the third.

“From the first cut on, the coach was ecstatic, Glenn said. “He wanted me to play. I made all three cuts and now I’m a starting shooting guard for the Missouri Rhythm.

The team currently is 3-3, though the squad is petitioning to the league to have more victories added because some teams had to cancel their games.

Such is the way of basketball franchises trying to get started, but Glenn said he’s been enjoying his time playing for the Rhythm.

“It means a lot to me,” Glenn said. “It means a lot because it tells me I’ve put in the work and the effort to get to the next level.”

That next level either is an NBA developmental league squad or a franchise overseas. Glenn said several players from the ABA have gone on to play in those leagues.

To get to this level, it was a hard fought path,” Glenn said. It means a lot to me to get to this point. It means a lot to say ‘you know a kid from a small town has gotten to this level.'”

Money in the ABA for players on established teams is pretty good, Glenn said, but the Missouri squad is new. He earns money playing for the Rhythm, but he still works at his own mowing and landscaping company.

“My hours are flexible to where I can make it to practice and games and still have work when I come home,” he said.

Games are on the weekends and practice is at least twice a week.

Glenn will be playing in a home game with the Rhythm at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Grandview Christian School, 12340 Grandview Road in Grandview.

Missouri will be playing Disciples of Christ, a minor league ABA team made up of former college players.

Youth sports night is the theme Saturday.

Tickets regularly are $10, but Glenn said people can order tickets online from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. for $3 each at missourirhythm.com.

Glenn said he hopes local residents can make it to the game.

“I just want the people in Tonganoxie to know I’m proud of where I came form and I make sure people know where that’s where I came from,” Glenn said. “For any high school kids in Tonganoxie who play basketball, they need to know they can get to this point also.

“A lot of kids from small schools, nobody looks at them. You can get to that level if you put the hard work into it.”