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Bobby Joe Green

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Bobby Joe Green
No. 89, 88
Position:Punter
Personal information
Born:(1936-05-07)May 7, 1936
Vernon, Texas, U.S.
Died:May 28, 1993(1993-05-28) (aged 57)
Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
Height:5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight:175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High school:College (Bartlesville, Oklahoma)
College:Oklahoma (1955–1956)
Florida (1957–1959)
NFL draft:1959: 9th round, 102nd pick
AFL draft:1960
Career history
As a player:
As a coach:
  • Florida (1979–1989)
    Kickers coach
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Punts:970
Punting yards:41,317
Punting average:42.6
Longest punt:74
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Bobby Joe Green (May 7, 1936 – May 28, 1993) was an American professional football player who was a punter for 14 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears. He played college football for the Florida Gators.

Early life

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Green was born in Vernon, Texas, in 1936.[1] He attended College High School in Bartlesville, Oklahoma,[2] and he played high school football for the College High Wildcats.

College career

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Green accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a punter and halfback for coach Bob Woodruff's Gators teams from 1958 and 1959.[3] As a senior in 1959, he kicked fifty-four punts for an average distance of 44.9 yards—still the Gators' single-season record.[3] Woodruff ranked him and Don Chandler as the Gators' best kickers of the 1950s.[4] His 82-yard punt against the Georgia Bulldogs in 1958 remains the longest punt by a Gator in the modern era.[3] Green was also a sprinter and high jumper on the Florida Gators track and field team. He was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."[5]

Green also appeared on Oklahoma's 1956 National Championship roster.[6]

Professional career

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Green was selected in the ninth round (102nd pick overall) of the 1959 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers,[7] and played fourteen seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears.[8] He played for the Steelers in 1960 and 1961, and then was traded to the Bears, for whom he played from 1962 to 1973.[8] Green was a member of the Bears' 1963 NFL Championship team, and was selected to the Pro Bowl after the 1970 season.[1] Green was one of the last NFL players to play without a face mask and can be seen doing so in the late 1960s.

During his fourteen-season NFL career, Green appeared in 187 games, kicking 970 punts for 41,317 yards (an average of 42.6 yards per kick).[1] He also completed six of ten passing attempts for 103 yards.[1]

Life after the NFL

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Green returned to Gainesville, Florida after his professional football career ended, and started a specialty advertising business.[9] Green also served as a volunteer kicking coach for the Florida Gators under head football coaches Charley Pell and Galen Hall from 1979 to 1989.[9] In May 2019 Green was rated #97 on the Chicago Bears top 100 list.[10]

Green died as a result of a heart attack in his Gainesville home on the morning of May 28, 1993; he was 57 years old.[9] He was survived by his wife Martha Jane and their son and daughter.[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players, Bobby Joe Green. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  2. ^ databaseFootball.com, Players, Bobby Green[usurped]. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  3. ^ a b c 2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide Archived April 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 152–153, 181 (2011). Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  4. ^ Tom McEwen, The Gators: A Story of Florida Football, The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama, pp. 210–211 (1974).
  5. ^ F Club, Hall of Fame, Gator Greats. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  6. ^ "Bobby Green". soonerstats.com. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  7. ^ Pro Football Hall of Fame, Draft History, 1959 National Football League Draft Archived September 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  8. ^ a b National Football League, Historical Players, Bobby Joe Green. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  9. ^ a b c d Sam Dolson, "Ex-Gator Bobby Joe Green dies of heart attack, The Gainesville Sun, Sports Weekend, p. 2 (May 29, 1993). Retrieved June 25, 2010.
  10. ^ "Ranking best Bears of all time: Nos. 76-100".

Bibliography

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  • Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). ISBN 0-7948-2298-3.
  • Golenbock, Peter, Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory, Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). ISBN 0-9650782-1-3.
  • Hairston, Jack, Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told, Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). ISBN 1-58261-514-4.
  • McCarthy, Kevin M., Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football, Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). ISBN 978-0-7385-0559-6.
  • McEwen, Tom, The Gators: A Story of Florida Football, The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama (1974). ISBN 0-87397-025-X.
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