MISSION ACCOMPLISHED : Seahawk Center Glover Comes Back Strongly After Career-Threatening Back Surgery

When surgeons cut into Kevin Glover’s back in December, they found a lot more damage than they expected.

A five-hour operation left the Seattle Seahawks center wondering if his NFL career was finished.

“I’d be lying if I stood here and told you that I knew for sure I was coming back, because I didn’t,” Glover said Wednesday at practice. “My wife thought it was over too.”

But after missing the second half of his 14th NFL season with what was believed to be a pinched nerve and turned out to be a fractured disk, Glover is going strong in his 15th year of pro football.

The Seahawks are happy with the way he’s playing and he’s ecstatic.

His doctors told him if he worked hard enough at rehabilitation he could have a successful comeback. He worked hard enough.

“My back’s been doing fine,” he said. “I had a little bit of pain in the second week of [training] camp when we had one of our scrimmages, but since then I haven’t had any pain.”

Glover, 36, has become an inspiration to his teammates, particularly the other offensive linemen.

“It’s incredible that he’s back from that injury,” said guard Pete Kendall. “You look at the scar on his back and you just shake your head.”

It’s been a year of adjustment for all the Seahawks, who have a new coach in Mike Holmgren.

“Kevin coming back was a big deal for our offensive line, because he’s experienced and he’s also real bright,” Kendall said. “He picked up the system real fast. So he’s been a big help for us guys by being able to come back.”

When the Seahawks (3-1) play at San Diego (3-1) on Sunday in a battle for first place in the AFC West, Glover will be playing his 190th NFL game and making his 174th start.

He came to Seattle as an unrestricted free agent last year after 13 seasons in Detroit, where he was a three-time Pro Bowler and blocked for Barry Sanders. The Lions made him a second-round draft choice out of Maryland in 1985.

Glover was injured last season during a practice. Before undergoing surgery, walking had become difficult.

Part of his rehabilitation during the off-season, when he was at home in Columbia, Md., involved swimming. Imagine a 6-foot-2, 282-pound center in a swimming pool. Then imagine him surrounded by senior citizens getting their exercise.

Glover laughs at that picture too.

“It was kind of a humbling experience,” he said.

“Here I’ve been in the league 14 years and playing with some of the greatest athletes in the world, and most of the people in the swimming pool were in their mid- to upper- 70s, people who had had knee replacements and hip replacements. It was like starting all over.”

Glover went through Holmgren’s minicamps before he went to Cheney in eastern Washington, where the Seahawks train. He felt confident at training camp he was going to be healthy enough to play this season.

“But you still never know with back surgery and at my age,” he said.

Glover didn’t need to come back for another season of paychecks. He has enough money.

He came back for something else.

“If you play a number of years and hopefully you take care of your money right, you don’t need that. I’m enjoying playing again, there’s no doubt about that. I think part of that has to do with getting injured last year,” he said.

“You never know. When you’re at this point of your career and at this age your next game or your next play could be your last play. So because of that I’m trying to enjoy the game.”