Vee Green
Vivian Julius "Vee" Green[1] (October 9, 1900 – May 12, 1967) was an American football player, coach of football, basketball, and baseball, college athletics administrator, and radio color commentator and sports announcer.[2] He served as the head football coach at Oklahoma City University from 1928 to 1932 and at Drake University 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 mark of 32–41. A native of Urbana, Illinois, Green played college football at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1922 to 1923. He played as a center and was a teammate of Red Grange.
Biographical details | |
---|---|
Born | Oakwood, Illinois, U.S. | October 9, 1900
Died | May 12, 1967 66) Urbana, Illinois, U.S. | (aged
Playing career | |
Football | |
1922–1923 | Illinois |
1926 | Louisville Colonels |
Position(s) | Center |
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
Football | |
1924–1927 | Waukegan HS (IL) |
1928–1932 | Oklahoma City |
1933–1946 | Drake |
Basketball | |
1930–1933 | Oklahoma City |
1944–1946 | Drake |
Baseball | |
1940–1942 | Drake |
Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
?–1933 | Oklahoma City |
1940–? | Drake |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | 103–72–10 (college football) 32–41 (college basketball) 24–7–1 (high school football) |
Bowls | 1–0 |
Accomplishments and honors | |
Championships | |
Football 1 Big Four (1931) | |
Later in his life, Green did color commentary and football analysis for the AM station WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. He did frequent sports broadcasts alongside Jim Zabel[3] including for Iowa's famous 1953 14-14 tie at Norte Dame.[4]
In the fall of 1966, Green was diagnosed with glioblastoma. Green died at age 66 on May 12, 1967, from brain cancer.[5]
Personal life
Green was the son of Lincoln Hamlin Green of Ohio and Mary Esther (Cranston) Green of Illinois, and had one sister. Vee Green married Iowan Lois Hardaway on February 5, 1954. They had 3 children.
Head coaching record
College football
Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oklahoma City Goldbugs (Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference) (1928) | |||||||||
1928 | Oklahoma City | 6–2–1 | 2–2–1 | T–7th | |||||
Oklahoma City Goldbugs (Big Four Conference) (1929–1932) | |||||||||
1929 | Oklahoma City | 5–5 | 2–3 | T–2nd | |||||
1930 | Oklahoma City | 9–1 | 2–1 | 2nd | |||||
1931 | Oklahoma City | 12–0 | 3–0 | 1st | |||||
1932 | Oklahoma City | 5–5–1 | 1–2 | 3rd | |||||
Oklahoma City: | 37–13–2 | 10–8–1 | |||||||
Drake Bulldogs (Missouri Valley Conference) (1933–1946) | |||||||||
1933 | Drake | 6–3–1 | 5–1 | 2nd | |||||
1934 | Drake | 3–6–1 | 2–2 | T–3rd | |||||
1935 | Drake | 4–4–2 | 1–2–1 | 4th | |||||
1936 | Drake | 6–4 | 4–2 | 3rd | |||||
1937 | Drake | 8–2 | 4–1 | 2nd | |||||
1938 | Drake | 5–4–1 | 2–1–1 | T–2nd | |||||
1939 | Drake | 5–5 | 2–3 | 4th | |||||
1940 | Drake | 4–5 | 2–2 | T–3rd | |||||
1941 | Drake | 4–5–1 | 0–3–1 | 6th | |||||
1942 | Drake | 3–7 | 1–4 | T–5th | |||||
1943 | Drake | 4–2 | 0–0 | NA | |||||
1944 | Drake | 7–2 | 0–0 | NA | |||||
1945 | Drake | 5–4–1 | 1–2 | 4th | W Raisin | ||||
1946 | Drake | 2–6–1 | 0–4 | 5th | |||||
Drake: | 66–59–8 | 24–27–3 | |||||||
Total: | 103–72–10 | ||||||||
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth |
References
- Housh, Leighton, ed. (1937). 1937 Missouri Valley Conference Handbook. Missouri Valley Conference News Bureau.
- "Vee Green". NFL.
- "Football". The Torch. January 1933.
- "The 1950's – Hooray For Evy's Hawkeyes".
- "Ex-Grange Teammate, Green, Dies". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. May 13, 1967. p. 54. Retrieved September 10, 2020 – via Newspapers.com .