Originally published by longtime Glimmer Greg Wilson as an email to Glimm participants on March 18, 2011:

My investigation of the Glimm Memorial Tournament’s namesake unmasked a charlatan, but not one who goes byGlimm or any variation thereof. Nope, this expose turned out not to be about a kindly older woman who spent her career molding minds, it’s about the man who cajoles, browbeats and harasses each of us out of $5 every year around this time.

We’ve all heard the story. The annual March Madness contest is run as a labor of love by our friend and colleague, Josh Kleinbaum’s singular name is humble homage to his late and beloved former high school algebra teacher, Alma Glimm. We can all picture the earnest boy in the front row, his arm perpetually raised, a ginger Arnold Horshack. I could even envision Alma Glimm smiling proudly at her star student as she called on him. The boy, who went on to attend a community college in Michigan whose name escapes me, later christens his beloved tourney for his favorite educator. How sweet.

Except that’s not exactly how it happened. As I began asking questions, the story unraveled like a Wolverine season with Rich Rodriguez at the helm. Some horrifying inconsistencies emerged from my initial grilling of Kleinbaum, whose eyes darted back and forth as sweat beaded on his forehead. Did any of you know he chainsmokes while under interrogation? He admitted that he had put together the tournament in class, hectoring his classmates for their lunch money while poor Alma Glimm tried her best to prepare them for college. When the exasperated educator confronted him about gambling in school, Kleinbaum denied that money was involved and the good-natured teacher asked if she might participate. Kleinbaum had her fill out a bracket and lo and behold, she won! God may scowl at people like Kleinbaum, but he smiles on Alma Glimm.

Or do I mean Marion Glim? Because that is her real name. Turns out she is alive and well and continuing her life’s work of preparing young people for college, even as her wayward former student puts his math learning to work in his burgeoning gambling enterprise. Why, I asked Josh, had he so exaggerated this poor womans demise? “She was old,” he told me. “I assumed she was dead.”

As for her winnings, well, poor Marion Glim never got them. Kleinbaum says his denial that money was involved left him no choice but to bilk Ms. Glim out of her prize. He SAYS he gave it to the runner-up. This I was unable to corroborate.

Continue participating in the Glimm Memorial Tournament at your own peril. But if you find that Kleinbaum is collecting future entry fees to pay past winners, don’t be surprised. The difference between Kleinbaum and Madoff appears to be one merely of scale.