Joe Greene (football player)

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Joe Greene
Greene in his famous Coca-Cola ad The image above is believed to be a replaceable fair use image. It will be deleted on 2007-04-04 if not determined to be irreplaceable. If you believe this image is not replaceable, follow the instructions on the image page to dispute this assertion.
Date of birth	September 24, 1946
Place of birth	Temple, Texas
Position(s)	Defensive Tackle
College	North Texas State
NFL Draft	1969 / Round 1/ Pick 4
Career Highlights
Pro Bowls	1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980
Awards	1974 AP Defensive P.O.Y. 1972 AP Defensive P.O.Y. 1969 AP Defensive R.O.Y.
Honors	NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team NFL 1970s All-Decade Team
Stats
Statistics	CBS.com DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1969-1981	Pittsburgh Steelers
College Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1987

Charles Edward Greene, known as "Mean Joe" Greene (born September 24, 1946), was an football Defensive Tackle in the NFL.

1 College career
2 Pro football career
3 Retirement
4 Commercials
5 External links

[edit] College career

Before his NFL career, Greene had an outstanding college football career at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) (1966-1968), assisting the team to a 23-5-1 record during his 3 seasons with them. In 1984, he was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. He was also endorsed by Coca-cola and did several commercials for them becoming widely known by the public.

[edit] Pro football career

In 1969, he was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 4th pick of the NFL draft and spent his entire career with them until his retirement in 1981. Greene was a cornerstone of the Steel Curtain defense that won four Super Bowls in the 1970s. His best championship performance was in Super Bowl IX, when he became the first player ever to record an interception, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery in a single Super Bowl.

His end stats were 181 games, 66 sacks (unofficially, as sacks were not an official statistic until 1982) and 16 fumble recoveries.

[edit] Retirement

After retiring from the NFL, Greene became an assistant coach under Steelers' head coach Chuck Noll in 1987. He spent the next 16 years as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Miami Dolphins, and Arizona Cardinals. In 2004, he was named the special assistant for player personnel for the Steelers.

[edit] Commercials

Greene has also appeared in commercials, the most famous of which is the one in which a child (Tommy Okon) gives him a Coke, prompting "Mean" Joe to smile and give the kid his game jersey. The commercial was listed as one of the top ten commercials of all time by TV Guide magazine. This ad was also adapted to other countries, including Argentina (with Diego Maradona playing Greene's role), Brazil (with Zico), Italy (with Dino Zoff) and Thailand. In 1981, "The Steeler and the Pittsburgh Kid" expanded the Coke commercial into a TV movie with Greene playing himself and the kid played by Henry Thomas, who soon after starred as Elliot in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. This advertisement was paid homage to in 2006, in a TV ad promoting asthma awareness. In the 2006 ad, a child with asthma tosses his Jerome Bettis Steelers jersey to Jerome himself, who is also an asthma sufferer. An episode of the second season of Family Guy, "Peter Peter Caviar Eater," featured a clip in which "Mean" Joe gives Peter not only his jersey but his other equipment as well, including his cup. This was a direct parody of the famous commercial. However, Greene's name was misspelled "Green."

In season one of Star Wars: Clone Wars, Mace Windu lands in front of a small farm child, who then offers him a sip of his canteen before Windu force jumps away in a reference to the Coke kid commercial.