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Springfield, Mo. —
Roy Green knew from a fairly early age that he’d like to make some sort of career with basketball. He was always around the sport anyway.
A class assignment his sophomore year of high school helped him figure out what that career in basketball would be.
“I remember my dad taking me to games at the age of 5,” Green said. “I remember going to my older brother’s games, too. Then, somewhere in 10th grade, we had to write a speech about what we’d like to be when we got older. I figured, ‘Shoot, I’d love to be a basketball coach.’ So, I wrote my speech on that.”
And with that, the seeds for a lengthy coaching career were planted. Green, a Camden County native and Camdenton High School alum, will go into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame on Jan 31.
“It was a very pleasant surprise and somewhat shocking when I found out about it,” Green said.
He got a chance to learn about coaching high basketball early on, when his older brother Mack Green was at the helm at Stoutland and Roy Green was a sophomore playing for Camdenton.
The duo had a brief but very memorable run-in when the two teams played each other.
“The ball had bounced out of bounds and (Mack) was holding it,” Roy Green said. “I reached over to get it and he pulled it away from me and handed it to the ref. Looking back, that was good psychology by him.”
Green started his coaching career in 1966 but is best known for his 26-year stint at Kickapoo that made him the winningest coach in Springfield high school basketball history. He retired at the end of last season.
“To have that kind of longevity in coaching high school basketball for one team is a huge credit to him,” Mack Green said.
Roy Green, who played in the early 1960s at Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University), won 558 games with the Chiefs. He won two state championships, earned two state runner-up titles and is also a Vietnam veteran.
The highlight of it all occurred during the 2002-03 season with a loaded Chiefs team that many pundits and fans still view as the best team in Missouri high school basketball history.
Kickapoo’s starting five that season included three Division I players: Deven Mitchell (Missouri State), Spencer Laurie (Missouri State) and Anthony Tolliver (Creighton). Tolliver is now in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Roy Green knew from a fairly early age that he’d like to make some sort of career with basketball. He was always around the sport anyway.
A class assignment his sophomore year of high school helped him figure out what that career in basketball would be.
“I remember my dad taking me to games at the age of 5,” Green said. “I remember going to my older brother’s games, too. Then, somewhere in 10th grade, we had to write a speech about what we’d like to be when we got older. I figured, ‘Shoot, I’d love to be a basketball coach.’ So, I wrote my speech on that.”
And with that, the seeds for a lengthy coaching career were planted. Green, a Camden County native and Camdenton High School alum, will go into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame on Jan 31.
“It was a very pleasant surprise and somewhat shocking when I found out about it,” Green said.
He got a chance to learn about coaching high basketball early on, when his older brother Mack Green was at the helm at Stoutland and Roy Green was a sophomore playing for Camdenton.
The duo had a brief but very memorable run-in when the two teams played each other.
“The ball had bounced out of bounds and (Mack) was holding it,” Roy Green said. “I reached over to get it and he pulled it away from me and handed it to the ref. Looking back, that was good psychology by him.”
Green started his coaching career in 1966 but is best known for his 26-year stint at Kickapoo that made him the winningest coach in Springfield high school basketball history. He retired at the end of last season.
“To have that kind of longevity in coaching high school basketball for one team is a huge credit to him,” Mack Green said.
Roy Green, who played in the early 1960s at Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University), won 558 games with the Chiefs. He won two state championships, earned two state runner-up titles and is also a Vietnam veteran.
The highlight of it all occurred during the 2002-03 season with a loaded Chiefs team that many pundits and fans still view as the best team in Missouri high school basketball history.
Kickapoo’s starting five that season included three Division I players: Deven Mitchell (Missouri State), Spencer Laurie (Missouri State) and Anthony Tolliver (Creighton). Tolliver is now in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers.
The other two starters, Kelly Byrne and Brandon Argo, went on to play college basketball at lower levels.
Coming off the bench were a future Division I-AA football All-American cornerback (Dre Dokes, Northern Iowa), a 6’9 center in Landon McCarter and another future Division I basketball player (Shane Laurie, Missouri State). All were seniors except for the sophomore Shane Laurie.
Kickapoo lost just one game that season – to a team from Memphis in the Tournament of Champions in Springfield – and won the Class 5 state title. Roy Green said coaching that team was simple and fun.
“I made it a point early on to not over-coach them,” he said. “I wanted them to be able to utilize their talents to the best of their ability.”
Roy Green said Kickapoo developed a strong following on the road. During a game at Lebanon, Mitchell broke the backboard on a dunk.
“(Mitchell) had kids from the Lebanon elementary school coming up to him for autographs,” Roy Green said. “I had never seen that on the road before.”
Roy Green had to deal with accusations of running up the score in games that season but decided not to lower his star players’ court time.
“I figured most fans were coming to the games to see these kids play,” he said. “I realized there probably won’t be another team with this much talent soon, if ever. There were a lot of games where we would have 50 or more points and halftime but I would always give them playing time in the second half.”
When asked to compare the 2003 team with other teams in the history of Missouri high school basketball, Green said “If someone said to me, ‘Coach, you’re playing tomorrow night and you have to pick one team. Who do you want?’ I would pick that 2003 one.”
Two seasons later, with only Shane Laurie left from the 2003 team, Kickapoo was playing in a tournament in Springfield and faced what seemed by most to be an unstoppable Poplar Bluff team led by Tyler Hansbrough, who is now the leading scorer in the history of the ACC.
Kickapoo, with no player over 6’7, not only held Hansbrough in check but sprung the upset after trailing by 15 at halftime.
“We played kind of a 1-3-1 ‘rat zone’,” Roy Green said. “We basically had a guy in front of (Hansbrough) and behind (Hansbrough) at all times.”
Kickapoo only had one losing season under Roy Green (his first season). The Chiefs also won 12 Ozark Conference titles.
After retiring, Green still helps out with the driver’s education course at Kickapoo and spends some time hunting and fishing in the Camden County area. He said it will be a bittersweet and memorable moment when his induction occurs on Jan. 31.
“It’s very humbling to think about all the other people that are in and now a young guy from Roach will be in there with them all,” Roy Green said.
He’s one of 15 individuals and two teams receiving the honor. Other notable inductees going in along with Roy Green include: Marty Schottenheimer (coach, Kansas City Chiefs), Kellen Winslow (tight end, Mizzou Tigers) and Tom Pagnozzi (catcher, St. Louis Cardinals).
Festivities will begin at noon on Sunday, Jan. 31 at the Hall of Fame and will conclude with a reception and banquet ceremony at 5 p.m. at the University Plaza Hotel & Convention Center. For more information about the event and ticket prices, visit mosportshalloffame.com.
