The fastest player in the NFL in the 80’s, Green played high school football at Jesse H. Jones High School. He did not make the varsity team until his senior season. Green went to Texas A&I University (Now Texas A&M -Kingsville) as a track star, but also played football. He still holds the school and conferences 100-meter dash record. He was an All-American in 5 different track events.
Green was the last player selected in the first round in 1983 by the Washington Redskins. He started as a rookie, led the team in solo tackles as a defensive back, and was runner-up to Eric Dickerson for Rookie of the Year. Green won the NFL’s Fastest Man Competition 4 times and was undefeated in races. He led the Redskins defense in 2 Super Bowl wins. He was selected to 7 Pro Bowls and was First-Team All-Pro 4 times. He had an interception in 19 consecutive NFL seasons and holds the record for most games played by a defensive player with 295 games.
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Something is not right with this story. I played little league baseball with Darrell Green in the 1970–1975-time frame. He was the pitcher for the “Tigers” of the Pacific Pee Wee baseball league in San Jose, California. I also ran track with him at Branham High School, also in San Jose, California during the 1975-1976 school year. Although I was on the Freshman/Sophomore team and he was on the varsity team, I certainly knew who he was. He attended Branham High that year, and then moved to somewhere in Texas the following year. As this was before he was famous, I forgot all about him until he started making a name for himself in the NFL about five years later. So, he did spend some of his growing up years in San Jose.