DETROIT — Jerry Green, a Detroit sportswriter who covered 56 consecutive Super Bowls, has died at 94, The Detroit News said Friday.
Green retired as a columnist at the News in 2004 but continued to attend the Super Bowl for the newspaper until this year. His streak began with Green Bay‘s 35-10 victory over Kansas City in the first Super Bowl in 1967.
“Jerry Green was synonymous with the Super Bowl. He chronicled the story of our game to millions of fans, helping bring them closer to the action,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “All of us in the NFL mourn his passing.”
Green, a native of New York City, died Thursday night, the News reported. He was a sportswriter in Detroit for The Associated Press before joining the News in 1963.
“I’ve never wanted to do anything else,” Green said earlier this year about a career covering a variety of pro and college sports.
News editor and publisher Gary Miles said Green was an icon.
“And he was unabashedly proud of the paper, his contributions and his colleagues. He gave us his all and we’ll miss him,” Miles said.
Before the Super Bowl era, Green covered the 1957 NFL championship game, which was won by the Detroit Lions. The Lions still haven’t played in a Super Bowl.
“I don’t think I’ll last that long,” Green jokingly told Crain’s Detroit Business in 2019.
