GRANITE CITY – One of the greatest athletes in recent Granite City history has finally gotten the call to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Kevin Greene, who played football, basketball and was a high jumper on the track team at then-Granite City South before his graduation in 1980, was named to an eight-member class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame during the NFL Honors ceremony Saturday night in Santa Clara, Calif, where Super Bowl 50 will take place Sunday evening between the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos.
Greene excelled at linebacker with the Warriors in the era of two high schools in Granite City (South and Granite City North), then went to Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., where he was a standout linebacker and special-teams player who was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the fifth round of the 1985 NFL Draft, then went on to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Carolina Panthers, San Francisco 49ers and the Panthers before his 1999 retirement. Greene played for the Steelers in Super Bowl XXX in Tempe, Ariz., in 1996, and also played in several AFC and NFC Championship Games for the Steelers and Panthers.
He became one of the most feared pass rushers in the NFL during his playing days, ranking among the leaders in sacks year after year and is one of the top quarterback sackers in NFL history. After his playing days, he became an assistant coach with the Green Bay Packers with one of his NFL coaches, Dom Capers, who he played for with the Steelers and Panthers; Greene was an assistant coach for the Packers team that defeated the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.
He was named to the All-Pro team three times in his career and was named to the NFL’s Team of the Decade for the 1990s; he also played in five NFL Pro Bowls, the league’s annual end-of-season all-star game and recorded 160 sacks in his career.
Greene will be part of an eight-member class being inducted in the shrine during the induction ceremonies scheduled for Aug. 6 at Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio, located next door to the Hall of Fame complex, the night before the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game; the ceremonies will be televised on both ESPN and NFL Network.
Going into the hall with Greene are quarterback (Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers, New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings) Brett Farve, quarterback (Oakland Raiders, Houston Oilers) Ken “Snake” Stabler, St. Louis Rams offensive tackle Orlando Pace, coach (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Indianapolis Colts) Tony Dungy, San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo, receiver (Indianapolis Colts) Marvin Harrison and 1950s-era linebacker (Detroit Lions, Washington Redskins) Dick Stanfel.
