Jerry Green, a legendary columnist for Detroit News to cover every Super Bowl, passed away at age 94.
Detroit has had a single representative at the Super Bowl throughout the first 56 years.
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According to his daughter Jenny Klein, Jerry Green passed away Thursday night. He was a renowned sports writer in Michigan who worked first for the Associated Press and then for The Detroit News. He was the only reporter to cover each of the first 56 Super Bowls. He was 94.
Jerry Izenberg, a veteran sports journalist for the Newark Star-Ledger, had been the last reporter to watch each Super Bowl in person until Mr Green outlasted him in February 2020. Izenberg informed him he was gone in a phone call weeks before. Izenberg refused to reconsider his decision despite Mr Green’s best efforts. Thus it was over.
Izenberg said, “Jerry, I can’t go. You continue.
And so Mr Green continued to do so until Super Bowl LVI before declaring that his run would expire in January 2023.
Mr Green shared the difficult news that he will not be filming Super Bowl LVII, writing, “To me, a proud honourable streak.” “tough work. Dead ideas, several deadlines, and some celebrity.”
From 1965 until 1972, Mr Green covered the Lions for The News. He then switched to writing columns, which he did until he officially retired in 2004.
By 2022, he continued to write irregularly for The News, covering the Super Bowl for an entire week. He had a byline in The News up until a few weeks ago.
Gary Miles, editor and owner of The News, remarked that Jerry was “an icon at The News including among sports journalists.” However, he was blatantly boastful about the newspaper, his contributions, and his coworkers. He contributed everything he had, and we will miss him.
Before The News, Mr Green worked at the Associated Press’ Detroit office, where he witnessed the 1957 NFL championship victory of the Lions. Green thought he was the only journalist to have written on titles for all four of Detroit’s major professional teams: the Lions, Tigers, Red Wings, and Pistons. Only the Tigers and Red Wings were slightly older than him.
The Lions released a statement as a club on Friday, saying, “We are saddened to hear of the demise of veteran Detroit News columnist Jerry Green. For more than 50 years, Jerry’s professionalism, work ethic, and dedication to his Art greatly impacted journalism in Detroit and around the nation.
Jerry’s unmatched streak of covering 56 straight Super Bowls during his career is possibly the clearest example of how dedicated he was to cover the NFL. His efforts significantly increased interest in the NFL and helped to promote the game of football. We offer our prayers and thoughts to the Green family and everyone who knew him.
Green covered a wide range of topics, but he became known for his coverage of the NFL, both before and after the 1970 merger, which he assisted in breaking and which resulted in the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. The Super Bowl was eventually the name given to it.
Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL, stated in a statement, “Jerry Green was associated with the Super Bowl.” “He gave millions of fans a detailed account of our game, bringing them closer to the action.
“Everyone in the NFL grieves his passing,”
Before Super Bowl III in early 1969, Mr Green experienced one of his most unforgettable moments while covering the beat poolside at a resort outside of Miami. Mr Green and Brent Musberger, a sportswriter in Chicago at the time, were in the correct location at the correct time when a shirtless Joe Namath agreed to speak to a small group of eight or nine journos from his sun lounger at a Fort Lauderdale hotel instead of attending the required pregame press conferences, which infuriated commissioner Pete Rozelle.
That occurred a few weeks before the New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts in the Orange Bowl by a score of 16-7 on January 12, 1969. Most people remember Namath promising victory beside the pool.
Mr Green enjoyed reminding his devoted supporters over the years that he didn’t.
For a half-hour, Namath charmed us; Mr Green wrote in 2020 for The News. But, two days later, he delivered his well-known “I assure you,” or pledge of an AFL and Jets win at a gridiron dinner.
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