Vivian Julius "Vee" Green (October 9, 1900 – May 12, 1967) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player, coach of football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, college athletics administrator, and radio color commentator and sports announcer. He served as the head football coach at

Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and docto ...

from 1928 to 1932 and at

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The University offers over 140 undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, education, Legal education, law, and pharmacy. Drake U ...

for fourteen seasons from 1933 to 1946. Green was also the head basketball coach at Oklahoma City from 1930 to 1933 and at Drake from 1944 to 1946, tallying a career

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

mark of 32–41. A native of

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. It is a principal city of the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, which had 236,000 residents i ...

, Green played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

from 1922 to 1923. He played as a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

and was a teammate of

Red Grange Harold Edward "Red" Grange (June 13, 1903 – January 28, 1991), nicknamed "the Galloping Ghost" and "the Wheaton Iceman", was an American professional American football, football Halfback (American football), halfback who played for the Chicag ...

. Later in his life, Green did color commentary and football analysis for the AM station

WHO The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 6 regional offices and 15 ...

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

. He did frequent sports broadcasts alongside

Jim Zabel Jim Zabel (September 5, 1921 – May 23, 2013) was an American radio and television broadcaster best known for serving as the play-by-play announcer for Iowa Hawkeyes football and men's basketball games for 48 years on WHO (AM) Radio. A native of ...

including for Iowa's famous 1953 14–14 tie at Notre Dame. In the fall of 1966, Green was diagnosed with

glioblastoma Glioblastoma, previously known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is the most aggressive and most common type of cancer that originates in the brain, and has a very poor prognosis for survival. Initial signs and symptoms of glioblastoma are nons ...

. Green died at age 66 on May 12, 1967, from brain cancer.

Personal life

Green was the son of Lincoln Hamlin Green of Ohio and Mary Esther (Cranston) Green of Illinois. Vee Green married Iowan Lois Hardaway on February 5, 1954. They had 3 children. Newspaper Clipping Vee Green WHO

Head coaching record

College football

References

External links

* 1900 births 1967 deaths American football centers Basketball coaches from Illinois Drake Bulldogs athletic directors Drake Bulldogs baseball coaches Drake Bulldogs football coaches Drake Bulldogs men's basketball coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football players Louisville Colonels (NFL) players Oklahoma City Stars athletic directors Oklahoma City Chiefs football coaches Oklahoma City Stars men's basketball coaches High school football coaches in Illinois People from Urbana, Illinois Long stubs with short prose {{1930s-collegefootball-coach-stub