Q&A

Ballard: From 1963 when you first came to UNL, through 1969, what was the campus environment like, the students? And now being back, what changes do you see?

Green: My perception of Nebraska remains constant. If perception equates to reality, then the hard work ethic that I received when I was here and that my daughter received is constant. (Green's daughter Mercedes graduated from UNL this past August). Nebraska is a good place to go to school. The people are good folks, they respect you as individuals. The perception that Nebraska projects is indeed a reality, because it works. I sent my daughter here because I wanted her in an environment that I considered to be productive, proactive and one where she would have the opportunities to learn some lessons in life as well as some academic things.

When I walk around campus now, I'm walking the same trails I walked then. The only difference is in terms of geography, the buildings. The people remain the same. The chemistry I feel of the campus is the same. I think most people who are here, as well as those who have come before them, feel as though their education here worked. By that I mean it allows you to go out to get a job and then get on with your life. If the process of an institution is to educate you to get a job and to be successful, then Nebraska did it for me. It did it for my daughter and will do it for people who continue to come. That's the fabric of the institution, the fabric of the state and of the people.

Ballard: You came to Lincoln from Seattle after spending some of your early years in Arkansas. How did you end up at Nebraska?

Green: I came here because my high school coach, Bill Gilmore, is from David City. He went to Peru State and many years after he graduated from college ended up being a teacher and a coach in Seattle. He convinced my mother that I should come to Nebraska. I wanted to go to San Jose State or USC. I said 'Where? Nebraska, but we don't know anybody there.' She said, 'Mr. Gilmore said you'll do fine there.' So I did what my mother said and I went to Nebraska. Great decision on her part.

Ballard: I can imagine that coming to a place like Nebraska in the early 60s had to be somewhat of a culture shock for you.

Green: It really wasn't difficult, because my mother told me that coming to Nebraska was a temporary step on my way to being somebody. It was a step, a process. You go to Nebraska and do what you're supposed to do, you come home at Christmas time. You'll be fine. All your friends, all the people you know will still be here. Nebraska was a step in the process for me getting an education and to trying to have a better lifestyle, better opportunities than she had. That's what Nebraska was about. Little did we know that it would end up being another home base for me.

Ballard: You had an outstanding track career at Nebraska. Did track provide you that educational opportunity you talk about, or was it much more?

Green: As I talked with Bill Byrne when I first came out here, one of the things he wants to ensure is that athletes and the community realize that athletes are part of the academic institution of the university. The athletic department is not a separate entity. They are first students, then athletes. You have to be academically solid before you can show your athletic talents. That philosophy is the same one that Frank Sevigne and Bob Devaney expounded in the early 60s when I got here.

From an athletic point of view, Nebraska has always provided the discipline, the resources and the training conditions to ensure that you did what you were supposed to do as an athlete, and that's to excel and win. So the only thing left is for the individual athlete to focus on themselves and what they're supposed to do. In athletics there are some of us more talented than others. It's incumbent upon each individual athlete to reach their maximum performance. It's important they practice every day, listen to their coaches and do what they're supposed to do when they are supposed to do it. Here at Nebraska, through Frank Sevigne, I learned that I had a lot of talent and that my responsibility to myself was to make sure that when I showed up to run my talent would come out when it was supposed to. I learned not to make excuses. Do the best you can and when you've done that, it makes you a winner and people respect that.

Unfortunately some of our athletes in this generation, and I don't know how this happened, but there is always an excuse - 'I don't know how this happened. I'm not feeling good. I had to stay up late to do my homework' or one thing or another. You can't allow confusion between academics and athletics. They both play a part and there is plenty of time to do both of them correctly and to the best of your ability.

Ballard: When comparing today's athletes to when you were an athlete, is there really a difference, or is it that athletes of today are more scrutinized?

Green: No, they're not more scrutinized. This is my personal opinion, but I think coaches are first teachers and then coaches. I take a look at people like Bob Devaney, Tom Osborne, Frank Sevigne, Don Bryant, George Sullivan. I look at those people as first being teachers and then coaches. They were able to identify the single focus, the single ingredient in each individual to make them achieve their objective. That's what made them successful. Today, I don't think there are a lot of good coaches or a lot of good teachers. There's where the difference is.

The athlete is basically the same as before, we just don't have as many good teachers and coaches as we used to. Also, when you look at the fabric of American society, we look at the job my generation has done at raising their children. My wife, Linda, and I have done what we think is a very good job of raising our children so they have the same values we had and were given to us by our parents. Unfortunately, if you take a look at our society as whole, it seems like some other parents aren't doing the same thing.

Ballard: Let's shift gears and talk about the 1968 Olympics. You've had an experience that very few people in life get. And you just didn't get the experience, but you won and represented your country on the medal stand. Is that a describable feeling?

Green: First and foremost, when you get to the Olympic Games it's about talent. Notice I didn't say anything about winning medals. Once you get there, then you start thinking about winning medals and that's only if you get to the finals. The process about being in the Olympics as an American is an enormous and immense responsibility. You're representing your mother, your father, your university, your nation and also yourself. They only play the national anthem if you're standing on top, they don't play it for second and third, they're just window dressing. That's the one time in your life to say it's important to compete and compete well . . . the real issue has to be with discipline and focus when you're running in the finals.

I ran the finals and got third. Another American, Jimmy Hines won. When I lost I was disappointed, but I was very excited that Jimmy won, because I did the absolute best I could under the circumstances. I didn't make any mistakes and ran the best I could, I just got beat. It's hard to accept, but that's what happened. The fact that an American won gives you a great sense of pride and relief. I was as prepared as I could be, and though my destiny wasn't to win, I did get a medal. That concept and idea is something we have to forge into the generation I'm working with. In 1996 I'm going to be the assistant manager for the USA Track Team in Atlanta. The head coach, Irv Hunt, has given me the responsibility of coaching the 4x100 relay team, the same relay team I ran on in 1968.

Ballard: Is there more pressure on coaches than the athletes to win?

Green: I find it's more pressure for me to coach this team, even though it hasn't been selected yet . . . I have to be a teacher and a coach. I have to teach the basic fundamentals and then let them run. The talent is there. We have to forge the biomechanics. Basically I have to convince them to do the correct things to win this relay. America will accept nothing less than a gold medal, and I have to process that information to these young men that says my gold medal, has served me well for 20-something years. It will serve you just as well if you get one. Now someone says, 'why do you have to win Charlie?' Someone is going to win the race, why not us? That's the attitude that makes a winner.

Ballard: Individual Olympic Games are almost always marked by certain performances or events. In 1968, the thing that may be most remembered is the black power salute by Tommy Smith and John Carlos. You were there and part of that history. What was going through your mind at the time?

Green: I was in that thought process during that time in our history when there was a lot of internal turmoil in our nation in terms of race relations, civil rights and equal opportunity issues. I think that Tommy Smith's concept was that in order for America to listen to you, you had to do something that was noteworthy for the media. He and John Carlos, by themselves, came upon this concept of the black power salute. I was not aware that they were going to do that before, and I knew both of them very well, and it created an atmosphere of extreme tension in the village. It created an atmosphere of extreme tension and anxiety in American society. I did not do that power salute because at the time I was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army.

After the power salute came up, I was instructed through an officer who was down there that that was not acceptable for military people to do. So I didn't do it. I didn't know about it before so I didn't have a chance to process it. That particular issue has been one that has been brought up many times during my life, and I consider myself to be no less of an American than anybody else. I consider myself to be an African American who has a major vested interest in this nation. The freedom of expression to do certain things is something we value in this country. Tommy exercised it as he deemed necessary for himself. Each individual in his or her way has the opportunity to demonstrate their feeling about the injustice we envision in society and I have done so in my own way. But at that time that just wasn't something that was in my cards.

Ballard: You've been in and around athletics a long time. Is there a place for politics in sports?

Green: If hindsight is 20/20, I would say that the truce between protest and athletics is a very fine line. Athletes need to understand and recognize the significance of their protest and whether it's postive or negative to their sport. As athletes, they need to get away from the short term issue of me, and take a look at what's best for my sport and what's best for me 25-30 years down the road when I'm in a different environment. Based upon my experience, I wouldn't like to see protests and demonstrations in sports. I believe it detracts from why we are there, and that is to enjoy sports competition. People who have societal issues they want to address should do so at an appropriate time and not at the sporting event. That's my position now. That's based upon what I want to call my wisdom.

Having said that, I still believe that athletes are a part of our society and part of our system of government and, as appropriate, they should still have the opportunity to express themselves on issues they think affect themselves and society. I just don't think it should be done at the moment you are supposed to be honored or receiving an award from someone based on your atheltic accomplishments. I think you do it afterwards.

Ballard: What about at that time in '68?

Green: When I look back on Tommy Smith, who I have known since 1963, I say if someone was going to make a statement he would be the one. And I'll tell you, as an individual, as an American, Tommy Smith is a great one. Totally committed, fine gentleman, very intelligent. History right now is writing the story on him. History writes the story on whether or not that was good, bad, indifferent or whatever, and what history says is that he expressed himself in a non-violent manner and what he expressed himself about was the truth. It was a real issue in American society about the treatment of black people in the country. History writes the story on his contribution to our nation, and as I see it history will write positively for him. He took an avenue that had not been taken before and brought it to the attention of the whole world, because he had the forum.

In that day there were not a lot of media forums. Nowadays you can call your own press conference and you can state your position and everybody is at your press conference if you're a big star. In those days there weren't any big press conferences for black guys. It's important for today's generation to understand the complexity of the situation. There are other factors involved in why it happened that way.

Ballard: Is sports a good forum to break down racial tensions? Is it a place where it doesn't matter what color the guy is next to you, that your main objective is to win?

Green: It all depends upon who your coach is. Who your leader is. Athletes take their direction from their leaders. Who your leader is and his philosophy on life is what ultimately permeates from the coaching staff to the athlete. A lot of people preach a good game and mouth the words, but there are only a few like Tom Osborne who really preach that concept of love for your fellow man and who really preach that idea of good, strong, wholesome competition. I'll tell you that when Bob Devaney was (coaching), there was an issue (in the country) where they used to stack black guys behind black guys in football, and they called it stacking. I can honestly say that when we came to school here the black football players always believed that DV, as we called him, played the best football player. You earned your position. You weren't stacked or denied your opportunity to play because of your race.

Your best recruiter is the player already there, and they would say, 'Is this guy straight?' And we would say, 'Man, this guy is straight. If you can play the game he'll let you play.' It went through the athletic department that Nebraska was a good place for black athletes to come, because you were given an opportunity for an education and to play your sport. That's the process with America, we are sometimes obsessed with this issue about race. But good leaders and good coaches play the best player. That ultimately makes them a winner and the people they're associated with winners. That's the concept you have to look at.

Ballard: That's an interesting transition into what you do now with the Special Olympics, where maybe the fierce competitive aspects aren't as great as just the opportunity to participate.

Green: Let me say this, to clarify the issue. In Special Olympics, our athletes have the same fire and the same drive. They like to win. The motto of Special Olympics is "Let me win, but if I can't win, let me be brave in the attempt." That concept of trying to win is what we are fostering in them. So in Special Olympics, in order to insure that process comes through, we division athletes by ability grouping. Therefore athletes compete against others of like ability, age and of the same gender. So everyone that competes has an opportunity to win. That's what makes us different, the divisioning of athletes.

As far as my concern, I'm a sports person. Sports is the color of the blood that runs in me. Special Olympics provides me the opportunity to develop with coaches and with athletes the understanding of fair competition. As long as it's fair, then whoever wins is fine. But make no mistake about it, if you talk to a special Olympian and ask them if they want to win, they'll tell you 'yes.' We give medals for first second and third and if you ask any of them, they want to win the gold. In other words, Special Olympics is not a day camp . . . we bring honor and credit to these individuals and we honor and value their effort. That's what's important.

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