Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Community Mourns Passing Of Coach Green
PRAIRIE GROVE — Former Tiger athletes, students, as well as the Prairie Grove staff, are remembering Mike Green, athletic director at Prairie Grove High School, who passed away Sunday, Aug. 31.
Green came to Prairie Grove in 1983 and has served Tiger athletics in a variety of roles — girl’s basketball coach, track and field coach, football coach, baseball coach, tennis coach, boy’s basketball coach, history teacher and athletic director.
Green was selected Coach of the Year a total of 18 times by the Arkansas Athletic Association, receiving the award at Prairie Grove in 1984-87, 1995. While coaching the Tigers, he was also named 3A-1 Coach of the Year from 1997-1999.
Green graduated from Lead Hill High School in 1966 and won MVP of the district basketball tournament. Green candidly admitted he was something of a “ball hog” on the basketball court, but he could score and held the state record with 73 points in one game.
After coming to Prairie Grove Green coached basketball for a couple of years before getting the boys job and leading the team to a district championship in 19861987. Twenty- three years later the starters from that squad: Jeff Grinder, Steve Edmiston, Lance Eads, John Yates and Jay Harper played together in a benefit game in the spring of 2010, months after Green was diagnosed with cancer.
Charity Tyree Ruley put the benefit game together on Green’s behalf and it was the only time all five starters from 1987 played together after high school.
Kevin Froud, Prairie Grove girls basketball coach, recalled Green taking him around making introductions to staff.
“He helped me a lot when I first came to Prairie Grove about knowing people,” Froud said.
“Sometimes he was on the refs and kind of wild, too,” Froud said. “He said, ‘Don’t make the same mistakes I made, calm down.’ He’d joke with me and say all the time, ‘We’re behind you win or tie.’”
Froud looked back to a Feb. 14 rivalry game between Prairie Grove and Farmington.
Froud talked about Prairie Grove’s McKay Gregson hitting a buzzer- beating 3-pointer after Farmington’s Jeremy Mueller rebounded the special needs player’s miss and threw the ball back to him. Froud described that event as bringing the communities together and said the same thing is happening since Green’s passing.
“Prairie Grove is having the sale of T-shirts to help Coach Green’s family with medical and funeral expenses. A lot of Farmington people have come in and bought those,” Froud said.
“We have the rivalry on the field and on the court but we work together and we play together. When you see the big picture a lot of good can come out of it.”
“It’s a big testament to Prairie Grove and Farmington when you work together a lot of good things can happen.”
Prairie Grove superintendent Allen Williams noted the staff banded together in honor of Green’s service.
“People are picking up the slack. The high school teachers got out on the front porch and started greeting the kids as they come in the door.”
Funeral services for Green were held Sept. 3, at the Prairie Grove gym.
Memorials can be made to the Coach Mike Green Memorial Scholarship fund at Arvest Bank.