Chuck Stewart (’09)
Chuck Stewart (GRHS 2009) was an outstanding multi-sport athlete at Glen Rock High School, including being a First Team, All-County quarterback and Bergen County Offensive Player of the Year.
Chuck Stewart was an exceptional option quarterback, being both a great passer and a great runner.
As a sophomore, Chuck was made the lead backup quarterback (as well as a defensive back) at the start of the 2006 football season. However, in the team’s very first game, he suffered a fractured shoulder and was unable to play again during that season.
As a junior, Chuck took over the starting quarterback position for a young team. The 2007 Team finished the season with a 6-4 final record. Chuck led the team in both passing and in rushing. At the end of the season, he was named to the Third Team, All-County (by both The Record and The Star-Ledger); the Second Team, All-Suburban; and the First Team, All-B-PSL, King.
As a senior Co-Captain, Chuck led the 2008 Team to an outstanding near-storybook season. After a 48-6 season opening victory over Saddle Brook, Glen Rock defeated Paterson Catholic 35-34, a victory that snapped Paterson Catholic’s 50 game B-PSL winning streak. (Paterson Catholic was the defending Group 1, Non-Public Sectional Champion and would end this season as the Group 1, Non-Public Sectional Champion.) After that victory, Glen Rock trounced its next seven opponents (including a 34-6 revenge victory over Hawthorne) to end its regular season with an undefeated 9-0 record and the B-PSL, King Championship.
Glen Rock then entered the State Tournament Playoffs and defeated Wallington 20-3. It then defeated unbeaten and defending champion Hasbrouck Heights in a thrilling see-saw game, 34-27. In that semifinal victory, Chuck connected with future Hall of Fame inductee Mike Escalante for a 23-yard touchdown pass that gave Glen Rock a 13-6 lead at halftime. In the third quarter, the team traded touchdowns: Hasbrouck Heights rushing for a touchdown and Glen Rock responding with Chuck running for a touchdown, putting Glen Rock back in the lead, 19-13; then Hasbrouck Heights and Glen Rock again trading touchdowns, with Chuck scoring on a fourth quarter 33-yard touchdown pass from future Hall of Fame inductee Brendan Miller. With the game down to its final minutes, Hasbrouck Heights’s offense tied the score with another touchdown, and the game seemed destined to go into overtime. However, there was just enough time for Chuck and Glen Rock to score a winning touchdown. With less than two minutes remaining in the game, Chuck scampered for a 45-yard winning touchdown and Glen Rock was headed for the Group 1, Sectional Championship game.
Unfortunately, in that game, held at then-Giants Stadium, despite Chuck completing 26 of 33 passes for 315 yards and 2 touchdowns, rushing for 65 yards on 11 carries, and catching a 46 -yard touchdown pass from Brendan Miller, Glen Rock was defeated by Mountain Lakes by a score of 35-21.
The 2008 Team had one of the school’s most productive offenses, scoring 338 points in its 9 regular season games (nearly 38 points per game) and 413 points in its full season of 12 games (over 34 points per game). Individually, Chuck completed 127 of 188 passes for 2,085 yards, 20 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. He also rushed for 875 yards on 129 carries for 16 touchdowns and caught 4 passes for 146 yards and 2 touchdowns. Finally, as a defensive cornerback, he intercepted 2 passes and returned one of those interceptions 109 yards for a touchdown (a school record).
At the end of the season, Chuck was named Bergen County Offensive Football Player of the Year, as well as being named to the First Team, Group 1, All-State; the First Team, All-County (by The Record and The Star-Ledger); the First Team, All-Suburban; and the First Team, All-B-PSL, Carpenter. The Record also named senior and future Hall of Fame inductee Mike Escalante and senior Paul Melicharek to the First Team, All-County and senior Chip Morrel and juniors Matt Howard, Andrew Lohr and Brendan Miller to the Second Team, All-County.
After this season, Hall of Fame inductee Alan Deaett decided to end his career as Glen Rock Football’s Head Coach. His fourteen years as Head Coach (1995-2008) were the Golden Age of Panther Football. Glen Rock had a combined record of 130-25 (a winning percentage of 84%), won seven B-PSL titles, qualifed for the State Championship Playoffs in thirteen of those fourteen years and won six Group 1, Sectional Championships. In recognition of his coaching accomplishments, in 2009, the Glen Rock High School football field complex was named the “Alan Deaett Field.”
Chuck Stewart was also a four-year letter recipient as a member of Glen Rock High School’s golf team. As a sophomore, he was named to the First Team, All-B-PSL. In his junior and senior years, he was the team’s leading player, and, in both years, he was again named to the First Team, All-B-PSL. Glen Rock won the B-PSL regular season championship and finished first in the B-PSL Tournament in each of those four years.
In June 2009, the administration and coaches of Glen Rock High School recognized Chuck as the top male athlete in that year’s graduating class and gave him the esteemed Athlete of the Year Award.
In addition, the Bergen County YMCA subsequently honored Chuck for Outstanding Achievement in High School Sports.