Glen Whitten attended The Ohio State University, earning a bachelor’s degree there in 1958 and a dental degree in 1962. He dove in high school in Florida where he won the state high school championship. Whitten placed third in the 1955 NCAA 1- and 3-metre springboard. He later focused on his dental practice but in his 50s turned his hand to inventions, receiving several patents. One of these was for Dzidra Glasses, which looked like bulky sunglasses, and were purported to help patients with migraines or other headaches, ostensibly by slowing brain wave activity.