Origin of The Name "Mean Green"
The name "Mean Green," still in use after 46 years, was adopted by fans and media in 1966 for a North Texas football defensive squad that finished the season second in the nation against the rush. That school year, Joe Greene, then a sophomore at North Texas, played left defensive tackle on the football team and competed in track and field (shot put). The nickname "Mean Joe Greene" caught-on during his first year with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969 when the fan base mistakenly assumed that "Mean Green" was derived from a nickname they thought he had inherited while at North Texas. The athletic department, media, and fans loved the novelty of a young standout's surname being a homophone of the university's school color. By 1968, "Mean Green" was on the back of shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, and the cover of the North Texas football brochure. Even the band became identified as the "Mean Green Marching Machine."
Read more about this topic: North Texas Mean Green
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