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So doing a little research on you guys....

Gurleyman

By Gurleyman
in Mean Green Football

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SilverEagle Mentor

SilverEagle

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Posted (edited)

The link you gave me suggests that the argument over where "Mean Green" came from was never really settled. I like the Mean Joe Greene angle, that's my story and I'm sticking to it :bow:

Joe Greene was a sophomore on the 1966 North Texas defense that was starting to get a reputation for being very dominate. As a result of this dominance, the wife of the sports information director Sydney Graham decided that the defense needed it's own nickname (much like the LSU defense of that era that called itself "The Chinese Bandits), so she came up with "Mean Green". Her husband, Fred Graham, was not too keen on this nickname as he thought it was too corny. But his wife's persistence caused him to start (reluctantly) using the nickname in his press releases that season. The nickname for our DEFENSE then caught on, and the rest is history.

Joe Greene was part of that defense, but he WAS NOT the inspiration for the nickname. The nickname started to be used pretty regularly after the article (written by Randy Galloway) about it's inspiration came out in the Dallas Morning news., And AFTER Joe Greene was drafted by Pittsburg, THEIR PUBLICITY DEPARTMENT BEGAN CALLING HIM MEAN JOE GREENE.

So, to summarize,.Joe Greene was part of a defensive group that became known as THE MEAN GREEN. The term was coined by North Texas graduate Sydney Graham, used by her (North Texas Graduate) husband Fred Graham (the SID at the time) in his press releases. And the rest is history.

Now, if you want to believe that our nickname came from Joe Greene, that is your ignorant choice. Ignorance, and intellectual laziness seems to be almost epidemic these days.

Welcome to the board................. B)

Edited by SilverEagle
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Mean Green 93-98 Grand Master

Mean Green 93-98

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Posted (edited)

It was actually confusion by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette when Joe was drafted that led to his being dubbed "Mean" Joe Greene. They had seen press releases mentioning the "Mean Green" and assumed that it was Joe they were talking about and not the whole North Texas defense--so the story that came out said that Chuck Noll's first ever draft pick was "Mean Joe Greene."

Edited by Mean Green 93-98
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SilverEagle Mentor

SilverEagle

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Hang on... I think we might be burying the lead. I want to hear more about Chinese Bandits in the bayou.

From Wiki....

Tiger Bandits - Whenever LSU forces a turnover or gets the ball back via a defensive stop, the LSU band plays the Tiger Bandits song and LSU fans bow in respect to the defensive stop. The original title of the song was called "Chinese Bandits", but the title was eventually changed to "Tiger Bandits" (or just simply "Bandits") to make the tradition more inclusive. The term "Chinese Bandits" originated as the nickname that LSU Coach Paul Dietzel gave to the defensive unit he organized in 1958, which helped LSU to win its first national championship. The next season, the 1959 Chinese Bandit defense held their opponents to an average of only 143.2 yards per game. No LSU defense since has done better.

https://www.google.com/search?q=LSU+Chinese+Bandits&hl=en&gl=us&authuser=0&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=ZF03UqmBLse-2QXntoC4Dw&ved=0CDEQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=709&dpr=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXzZGxhTOao

Edited by SilverEagle
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PlummMeanGreen Grand Master

PlummMeanGreen

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Posted (edited)

He has also frequents our home games.

Mean Joe had several TV camera photo opps on our Fox Sports SW broadcast which I watched the full repeat of it last night at midnight till 3:00 AM. :lol: The broadcast team seemed to be "in awe" of Joe, too. Many still consider him the greatest at his position in NFL history.

Last Saturday, I also saw many other North Texas greats and lettermen from the past at Apogee Stadium which included Chuck "Hatchet" Beatty from the Joe Greene Era at UNT and Chuck was briefly a Pittsburgh Steeler as I recollect. Chuck introduced me to Mean Joe's grandson.

GMG

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rws69 Rising Star

rws69

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The 1967 yearbook "Yucca" in describing the 1966 season makes no mention of Mean Green.

The 1968 yearbook "Yucca" in describing the 1967 season has a paragraph on page 288 describing the accomplishments of the season, finishes with these three sentences:

They produced all this, and they produced a name. the "Mean Green." Whether it was just a name or perhaps a following, it was one by which they were known and respected. The North Texas Green of 1967 was indeed Mean.

The next page, a story of Coach Rod Rust, starts with the following:

A headline said somewhere recently....Mean Green, it's a happening. That sentence was probably the understatement of the year, for nowhere in the state of Texas was there a bigger happening than at North Texas.

That happening, sometimes referred to as the Eagle football team, was one of, if not the best football teams in the state.

Joe Greene, while a key part of the defense in those years, was not mentioned on either page.

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SSP Newbie

SSP

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Posted

Mean Joe had several TV camera photo opps on our Fox Sports SW broadcast which I watched the full repeat of it last night at midnight till 3:00 AM. :lol: The broadcast team seemed to be "in awe" of Joe, too. Many still consider him the greatest at his position in NFL history.

Last Saturday, I also saw many other North Texas greats and lettermen from the past at Apogee Stadium which included Chuck "Hatchet" Beatty from the Joe Greene Era at UNT and Chuck was briefly a Pittsburgh Steeler as I recollect. Chuck introduced me to Mean Joe's grandson.

GMG

Very cool. I would imagine we start seeing this trend grow in the near future...

Hey, isn't your screen name sexist? Shouldn't it be "Gurleyperson"?

Lord. We aren't doing another thread on this again, are we?

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