Donnie Gerald Green (July 21, 1948 – August 28, 2019) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

offensive lineman in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for the Buffalo Bills,

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

, and the Detroit Lions. He played college football at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

and was drafted in the fifth round of the

1971 NFL Draft The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...

Early life

Donnie Green was the sixth of nine children of Irene and James Green in Annapolis, Maryland, where he attended elementary school. At age 10, his mother died and Green moved to live with his father in Chesapeake, Virginia, where he played football and basketball at Crestwood High School.

College

Green was recruited by Purdue out of Crestwood high school in Virginia. Green was an AP and UPI All-American in 1970, and also was named a team captain during his senior year. The previous season, Green's blocking played a role in the team finishing with an 8-2 record under head coach Jack Mollenkopf. The quarterback on that team was

Mike Phipps Michael Elston Phipps (born January 19, 1947) is a former American college and professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. Phipps played college footbal ...

, who would be the first round draft choice of the Cleveland Browns in the next NFL draft. That 1969 team finished the season ranked number 18 in the AP poll. While at Purdue, Green majored in Physical Education. In Green's senior year, Purdue went 4-6 under head coach Bob DeMoss, with one of the highlights of the season being an upset 26-14 win over Stanford. Some of Green's teammates on that Purdue squad that would go on to play in the NFL include quarterback

Gary Danielson Gary Dennis Danielson (born September 10, 1951) is an American college football commentator and former professional American football player. Danielson was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the Detroit Lions from ...

, Running back

Otis Armstrong Otis D. Armstrong (November 15, 1950 – October 13, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected in the first round with the ninth overall pick in the 1973 NFL ...

and wide receiver

Darryl Stingley Darryl Floyd Stingley (September 18, 1951April 5, 2007) was an American professional football player, a wide receiver whose career was ended at age 26 by an on-field spinal cord injury. He played his entire five-year career with the New England ...

NFL

Green was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the fifth round (107th player taken overall), one round after

Jim Braxton James "Bubby" Robert Braxton (May 23, 1949 – July 28, 1986) was a professional American football fullback in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins. Collegiate career Jim Braxton started playing college football at West Virginia ...

, who'd be a back field mate of O. J. Simpson and part of the Bills famed "Electric Co." offense of the 1970s. Green played in ten games his rookie season, starting nine of them as the Bills struggled to an 1-13 record under coach Harvey Johnson. After that season, Johnson was fired and

Lou Saban Louis Henry Saban (October 13, 1921 – March 29, 2009) was an American football player and coach. He played for Indiana University in college and as a professional for the Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference between 1946 a ...

was named as head coach. Saban made Green the full-time starter at right tackle, as the Bills improved to 4-9-1. The next season the Bills improved to 9-5 as Green along with

Dave Foley David Scott Foley (born January 4, 1963) is a Canadian actor, stand-up comedian, director, producer and writer. He is known as a co-founder of the comedy group The Kids in the Hall, who have appeared together in a number of television, stage and ...

, Reggie McKenzie, Bruce Jarvis, and Joe Delamielleure formed the line that helped Simpson rush for 2,003 yards in a season. In 1974, Green only started 10 games, but he recorded his only pass reception, a one yarder from quarterback

Joe Ferguson Joseph Carlton Ferguson Jr. (born April 23, 1950) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Arkansas. Early year ...

in a 24-16 loss to the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

. 1975 would be Green's last as a full-time starter. He started all 14 games that year, eleven in 1976. He played for the

in 1977 as a back-up, and spent 1978 seeing spot duty for the Detroit Lions. He retired after that season.

Post career and death

Green struggled with life after pro football. He soon separated from his wife and battled drug use. He lost the lease on the home he was in and ended up living for a time in a shelter in Hagerstown, Maryland and worked there as a night monitor. On August 28, 2019, the Buffalo Bills issued a press release that confirmed that Green had died, though an exact cause was not announced.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Donnie 1948 births 2019 deaths Players of American football from Washington, D.C. American football offensive linemen Purdue Boilermakers football players Buffalo Bills players Philadelphia Eagles players Detroit Lions players