Evan Tryforos (’67)
Evan Tryforos was the best linebacker in the history of Glen Rock High School Football — as well as an outstanding multi-sport athlete.
Glen Rock High School won five consecutive Group 1, Sectional Championships from 1998 through 2002. This was the “Golden Age of Panther Football” under Head Coach and Hall of Fame inductee Al Deaett and Evan Tryforos was a leading member of both the 1998 and 1999 teams.
In Evan’s junior year, he helped lead the 1998 football team to the first of those five consecutive championships. After being narrowly defeated (20-13) in the season opener by Group 4 (and eventual Sectional Champion) Passaic Tech, that team was undefeated over the remainder of that season and won the championship with a 19-7 victory over Hasbrouck Heights. That team scored 41.83 points per game (the second highest amount after the Hall of Fame inducted 1999 team) and only allowed 5.17 points per game (the second lowest total after that 1960 team). At the end of the season, Evan was named to the Third Team, All-County Defense (by The Bergen Record).
As a senior, Evan was a Co-Captain of the 1999 football team and helped lead that team to an unbeaten 12-0 record (completing a 23 game winning streak) and a Group 1, Sectional Championship.
The 1999 football team was the most dominant team during the “Golden Age of Panther Football” and was Glen Rock’s most outstanding football team since the 1960 team, and like that early team has been inducted into the Hall of Fame. As the team’s center, Evan led a dominant offensive line and, as linebacker, he led an equally dominant and disruptive defensive unit, while blocking passes, forcing fumbles and scoring touchdowns. Before the Sectional Championship games, the team avenged the prior season’s loss to Passaic Tech by a score of 55-0 and then defeated Garfield by a score of 49-0. It then won the Sectional Championship with three convincing victories, defeating Saddle Brook 35-0 in the Quarterfinals, defeating Secaucus 55-6 in the Semifinals, and defeating Cresskill 28-13 in the Sectional Championship game.
The 1999 football team had one of the most explosive offenses in New Jersey history, scoring an average of 48.2 points per game, while its defense only allowed 7.9 points per game (while producing a nearly equal amount of points on touchdowns scored after forced fumbles and interceptions). As a result, the team achieved the biggest margin of victory in school history: 40.3 points per game. In its season ending poll, The Bergen Record named Glen Rock the Groups 1 & 2 Team of the Year.
Evan was credited with a school record 151 tackles (95 solo), 13 sacks and 9 forced fumbles, 6 recovered fumbles and 2 touchdowns from fumble recoveries (each over 50 yards). He was named to the First Team, All County Defense. Coach Deaett called him “the (school’s) best linebacker ever” and “without a doubt the best defensive player I’ve ever coached.”
In addition to his football success, Evan earned four Varsity letters as a leader of
the school’s wrestling team. As a junior, his pin of his opponent helped Glen Rock win its first Sectional Championship, defeating Ridgefield 46-24 to be crowned Group 1, Sectional Champions. He ended the season being named to the Third Team, All-County. As a senior, he helped lead the wrestling team to a second consecutive Group 1, Sectional Championship (and a #1 ranking in Groups 1 & 2 in Bergen County). As an individual, he ended up finishing second in the District Championship and then finishing second in the Regional Championship, and was named to the Third Team, All County.
Evan also competed for the school’s Track & Field Team.
After graduating from GRHS, Evan attended Columbia University, where he
started on the team’s defense unit for all four years and was a leading tackler.