Sam Greene

Early years

Greene was born in Stuart, Virginia in 1895. His father, George Oliver Greene, was a Virginia native and a newspaper editor and publisher. His mother Emma (Martin) Greene was also a native Virginian. At the time of the 1900 United States Census, Greene was living with his parents and three sisters (Lucy, Bernice and Marian) in Staunton, Virginia. By 1910, the family had moved to Clifton Forge, Virginia, and had grown to include six daughters and three sons. At Clifton Forge, Green's father owned and operated the Daily Review. Greene worked on his father's newspaper as a boy, handling responsibilities that included delivering papers, sweeping floors, setting type, collecting bills, and proofreading.

Reporter in Virginia and Texas

Greene attended Randoph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. While attending college, Greene worked as a typesetter for the Hanover Progress in Ashland. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Greene enlisted in the United States Navy. After the war, Greene became a reporter for The Roanoke Times. He began covering sports while working in Roanoke. At the time of the 1920 United States Census, Greene was living in Roanoke. He was married to Kittie (Karr) Greene, a Texas native, and his occupation was listed as a newspaper reporter.

By June 1920, Greene had moved to Beaumont, Texas to become a sportswriter for The Beaumont Enterprise. He spent three years in Beaumont and was appointed as the editor of the sports page. While in Beaumont, his baseball writing, covering the Beaumont Exporters of the Texas League, came to the attention of The Sporting News. He became the Beaumont correspondent for The Sporting News from 1920 to 1922.

Sports writer in Detroit

Greene moved to Detroit, Michigan in August 1922 as a sportswriter for the Detroit Free Press. He spent a year-and-a-half with the Free Press before moving to The Detroit News. He remained with the News for nearly 40 years. He also became the principal Detroit correspondent for The Sporting News from 1924 to 1960. Greene became known for his coverage of the Detroit Tigers, the Michigan Wolverines football team, the Detroit Lions, and boxing. Respected as an expert in each of those sports, Greene was on the committee that chose the American League's Most Valuable Player, and his writing about the Tigers was "looked on by other baseball writers as the last word on the matter." He covered the Lions from their first season in the NFL and through their championship seasons in the 1950s. When the Pro Football Hall of Fame was established in the early 1960s, Greene was one of a member of the board of selectors that chose the initial 17 inductees. He began covering the Michigan Wolverines in 1922, and was posthumously honored in 1971 as a charter inductee into the University of Michigan's Media Hall of Fame.

His fellow sportswriters recalled him as "a gentlemanly patriarch" who "brought dignity and graciousness to the press boxes of major league sports and to his profession." Jack Dulmage of the Windsor Star described him as follows: "He would observe the game with his hat at a rakish tilt, and clench a cigar in his teeth at an impertinent angle. He would move the cigar to laugh heartily at the quips of the day." Joe Falls, who succeeded Greene as the dean of Detroit baseball writers (and who was inducted into the writer's wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame) wrote in his autobiography that Greene was his mentor: "My longtime mentor, Sam Greene, of The Detroit News. When I was 30, Sam was 60, and Sam taught me how to behave myself in my job by simply being nice to people, which Sam did in his every waking hour. He could also outwrite me."

Greene also befriended many of the great sports figures of his time, counting among his friends Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, and Tex Rickard.

Greene developed a lung infection and underwent lung surgery in 1962. He returned to work shortly after the operation and continued to write until July 1963. His last column concerned the dedication of a plaque at Tiger Stadium honoring Ty Cobb. He died in September 1963. The Associated Press called him "one of America's best known sports chroniclers" and reported that he died "in his bedroom while preparing to listen to the radio report of the Detroit Tigers' game at Boston." The United Press International wrote: "The sports world lost one of its most beloved figures yesterday when Sam Greene died at the age of 68." The Long Beach Press-Telegram called him "Gentleman Sam" and reported: "Anybody who knew Sam Greene was grateful for the privilege. A great legion of sports-writer friends now mourn him."

Greene's son Edgar "Doc" Greene was also a sportswriter for The Detroit News. His son was appointed as the sports editor of The Detroit News in November 1963, two months after Greene's death.

Selected works by Greene