Green Honored with NCAA Award

From the Texas A&M-Kingsville Sports Information Department
by Fred Nuesch

KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – Darrell Green, former Texas A&I All-American football and track and field athlete, has been named as a recipient of the 2009 NCAA Silver Anniversary Award Jan. 15 in Washington D.C.

The presentation of the six Silver Anniversary honorees will come at a luncheon at the annual NCAA Convention. The event will be held in the Newseum. The award is one of the highest presented by the NCAA.

It is the second major award for Green within the past year. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August. He played each of his 20 record-setting seasons in the NFL as a Washington Redskin. Green was a first-round draft choice of Washington in 1983.

With the Javelinas, Green was a two-sport letterman, playing football for four seasons and running on the track and field team for three years.

From Houston (Texas) Jones High School, Green was an Associated Press Little All-America and American Football Coaches Association All-America first-team honoree. He was on the All-Lone Star Conference first team as a junior and senior and was selected as the LSC’s most valuable player in 1982. He was selected by his teammates as a captain in 1982.

He was selected to the Lone Star Conference Team of the Decade for the 1980s. Green got much of his collegiate notability in track. His first meet came in the spring of 1981 in San Angelo, Texas, and he ran a 10.08 in the 100-meter dash. That was the beginning of his reputation as one of the world’s fastest runners. The mark still stands as the all-time best in the Lone Star Conference.

Green holds the Lone Star Conference records, which are set at the annual conference meet, in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. His times are 10.22 in the 100 and 20.67 in the 200.
His all-time collegiate best in the 100 was 10.08, 20.50 in the 200 and 45.90 in the 400. He ran on relay teams that recorded 40.43 in the 400 and 3:10.06 in the 1600.

He was named the most valuable track performer at the 1982 and 1983 Lone Star Conference Championships. He won gold medals at the LSC meet in the 100-meter dash in 1981, in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes in 1982 and in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes in 1983.
Green was named to the NCAA Division I All-America roster in 1981 and 1982, and was on the NCAA Division II All-America team in five events in 1981 and 1982. He was NAIA All-America in 1981 and 1982 in four events. Green was on All-America first teams in track and field 10 different times.

Green has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, the Lone Star Conference Hall of Honor, the NCAA Division II Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the Javelina Hall of Fame.He has been highly honored on and off the field since joining the Redskins.