Mean Joe Greene was a tough football player — but a nice guy

[Jonnyeagle]

Charles Edward Greene was born in Temple in 1946. His aunt nicknamed him Joe because she thought he could be a prizefighter like Joe Louis, the heavyweight world champion.

“Joe” was Greene’s first nickname. He grew up to become a football legend instead of a prizefighter.

Despite Greene’s talent, Temple’s Dunbar High School Panthers were mediocre. Because Dunbar, a Black school, couldn’t play white schools, Greene wasn’t recruited after his graduation in 1966. The Southwest Conference wouldn’t integrate for at least another year.

North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) offered Greene a football scholarship. His college path was softened by Abner Haynes and Leon King, who broke the Texas college color barrier a decade earlier at NTSU.

 

read more:  https://dentonrc.com/news/landmarks_and_legacies/mean-joe-greene-was-a-tough-football-player-but-a-nice-guy/article_0687f394-a5fe-514e-b687-f90b3d503585.html

[buff64]

West Texas had a black player in the fall of 1960 .I don't recall his name but he was from Littlefield , Texas . Then in 1961 they recruited several black players includiing Pistol Pete Pedro and Ollie Ross .