MARCH 24 • 2022 | 19

A month later, Green’s uncle took Jerry 
to the Polo Grounds to see the Giants ver-
sus the Pittsburgh Pirates. “That was my 
first baseball game. I was awed,
” said Green. 
Later that year, his father treated him to 
a Yankees-Washington Senators double-
header at the mecca of baseball — Yankee 
Stadium. 
It had a profound impact on his baseball 
allegiance. “I was immediately transformed 
to a Yankees fan. I deeply loved Lou Gehrig 
and Joe DiMaggio, who was a rookie that 
year.
” 
Jerry Green did have childhood dreams 
of being a professional athlete but a reality 
check steered him in a different direction. 
“I loved newspapers and I found out rather 
young in life, I could not hit the curveball 
and I didn’t become very large. So I wasn’t 
going to be a professional athlete. So I did 
the next best thing, I became a sportswriter. 
And that took awhile, but it happened.
” 

LOVE OF COUNTRY
It happened, but not before Jerry first 
served his country. He was scheduled to 
have his pre-induction physical on May 
15, 1946, while still a senior in high school. 
Said Green: “They called my home and 
said don’t bother to come in.
” And then the 
Korean War began in 1950. “So I registered 
again and I was deferred to finish my edu-
cation.
” 
Finishing his education would include 
obtaining his Bachelor of Arts degree from 
Brown University, a Master of Science in 
Journalism from Boston University, fol-
lowed by entry into officer candidate school 
at the U.S. naval station in Newport, Rhode 
Island, in 1953. He was commissioned an 
officer on Jan. 5, 1953.
“I am very proud of my Navy back-
ground,
” he said. “I am a two generation 
Navy family. My father served in WWI 
aboard the USS San Diego.
” Jerry would 
serve for three years with two tours of duty 
during the Korean War, evenly split — one 
aboard the USS Northampton and his second 
tour as a press officer at on-shore positions 
in Japan and Taiwan. 
Green is a very proud American and a 
true patriot. “If I was going to serve, which 
I had to do, and I did willingly, I wanted to 
be a naval officer a step ahead of my father’s 
advancement, which I believe is what 
happens in the United States,
” inferring 
that America provides the opportunity for 

“HE’S DONE THINGS AND BEEN A PART OF THINGS, 
TALKED TO PEOPLE THAT NO ONE ELSE IN THE 
WORLD HAS HAD CONTACT WITH.”

— DAUGHTER JENNY KLEIN

Jerry Green was recognized as Honorary Captain of the 
Michigan Wolverines football team during the Northern 
Illinois game last Sept. 18, and appeared at midfield for 
the ceremonial coin flip. Green (center) seen here in 
the stadium box of U-M Athletic Director Warde Manuel 
with daughter Jenny Klein, granddaughter’s fiancé Nick 
Yormick, son-in-law David Klein, and granddaughter 
Gretchen Klein. 

continued on page 20

