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B1G’s first African-American football coach Dennis Green dies at age 67
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The B1G’s first African-American football coach, Dennis Green, died early on Friday morning.
According to ESPN, Green died of cardiac arrest.
Green was a B1G pioneer. When he came to Northwestern in 1981, he broke the color barrier for B1G football coaches. He was also the second African-American football coach in Division I history. He spent five years at Northwestern, and he also was a running back at Iowa in the late 1960s.
He worked his way up to the NFL ranks, where he coached the Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals for a total of 13 seasons. Green most recently coached in the United Football League in 2011.
Pat Fitzgerald shared his sentiments on the late former Northwestern coach:
Our entire football family is grateful for Coach Green's impact! Thoughts and prayers are with his family today. pic.twitter.com/uK5gKSJtF4
— Pat Fitzgerald (@coachfitz51) July 22, 2016
Green will always be remembered for paving the way for future minority coaches in the B1G.
He was also responsible for one of the most famous press conference moments in NFL history:
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.