Longtime Detroit newspaper columnist Jerry Green, who covered each of the first 56 Super Bowls, died on Friday at the age of 94, The Detroit News announced.
Green joined the Associated Press in 1956, after spending three years in the Navy, and ultimately worked his way up to become the AP sports editor in Detroit. He started writing for The Detroit News in 1963 and became the Lions beat writer from 1965 to ’72, when he moved into a columnist position. Green retired from that role in 2004, but continued to cover the Super Bowl every year for The Detroit News’s coverage of the game.
In 2020, Green became the last reporter to cover every Super Bowl, passing the Newark Star-Ledger’s Jerry Izenberg, who chose to end his streak covering the game that year. Green would cover each of the next two Super Bowls as well before his streak ended last month.
“Jerry was an icon at The News and among sports writers,” The Detroit News’s editor and publisher, Gary Miles, said. “And he was unabashedly proud of the paper, his contributions and his colleagues. He gave us his all and we’ll miss him.”
The Lions also released a statement mourning Green’s loss.
“We are saddened to hear of the passing of former Detroit News columnist Jerry Green,” the team wrote. “Jerry’s work ethic, professionalism and commitment to his craft made a significant impact on journalism within the city of Detroit and around the country for more than a half-century.”
For his work covering the NFL, Green was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005 as the Bill Nunn Memorial Award winner.
