Bobby Joe Green
| No. 89, 88 | |||||||||
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| Position: | Punter | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Date of birth: | May 7, 1936 | ||||||||
| Place of birth: | Vernon, Texas | ||||||||
| Date of death: | May 28, 1993 (aged 57) | ||||||||
| Place of death: | Gainesville, Florida | ||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 175 lb (79 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Bartlesville (OK) College | ||||||||
| College: | Florida | ||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1959 / Round: 9 / Pick: 102 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
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| As coach: | |||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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| Player stats at PFR | |||||||||
Bobby Joe Green (May 7, 1936 – May 28, 1993) was an American college and professional football player who was a punter and running back in the National Football League (NFL) for fourteen seasons during the 1960s and early 1970s. Green played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played professionally for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears of the NFL.
Early life
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
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 Florida Gators football team 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]
Professional career
Green was selected in the ninth round (102nd pick overall) of the 1959 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers,[6] and played fourteen seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears.[7] He played for the Steelers in 1960 and 1961, and then was traded to the Bears, for whom he played from 1962 to 1973.[7] Green was a member of the Bears' 1963 NFL Championship team, and was selected to the Pro Bowl after the 1970 season.[1]
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
Green returned to Gainesville, Florida after his professional football career ended, and started a specialty advertising business.[8] 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.[8]
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.[8] He was survived by his wife Martha Jane and their son and daughter.[8]
See also
- Florida Gators football, 1950–59
- List of Chicago Bears players
- List of Florida Gators football players in the NFL
- List of Pittsburgh Steelers players
- List of University of Florida alumni
References
- 1 2 3 4 Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players, Bobby Joe Green. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
- ↑ databaseFootball.com, Players, Bobby Green. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- 1 2 3 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.
- ↑ Tom McEwen, The Gators: A Story of Florida Football, The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama, pp. 210–211 (1974).
- ↑ F Club, Hall of Fame, Gator Greats. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
- ↑ Pro Football Hall of Fame, Draft History, 1959 National Football League Draft. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- 1 2 National Football League, Historical Players, Bobby Joe Green. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- 1 2 3 4 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.
Bibliography
- 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.