Johnny Green, Jumpin’ Knicks All-Star, Dies at 89

Jumpin’ Johnny, an All-Star forward and all-American at Michigan State, was famed for his ability to leap above taller opponents throughout his 14 seasons in the NBA.
Johnny Green, a Knicks All-Star forward in the 1960s known for his leaping ability and rebounding prowess throughout 14 National Basketball Association seasons, died on Thursday in Huntington, New York, on Long Island. He was 89.

Johnny Jr. confirmed his father’s death in a hospital, saying he had been suffering from heart and kidney ailments for about a year.

Jumpin’ Johnny, as he became known, was 6-foot-5 and weighed around 200 pounds, yet he frequently outperformed taller and huskier frontline opponents by grabbing rebounds, blocking shots, and making short-range points.

He was very durable, avoiding major injuries and having some of his greatest seasons late in his career. He played in the National Basketball Association until the age of 39, when he retired following the 1972-73 season.
Green was an all-American at Michigan State University during his junior and senior years. As a sophomore, he led the Spartans to a share of the 1957 Big Ten championship with Indiana and a spot in the NCAA tournament’s Final Four.

Green produced 11 points and 19 rebounds in a national semifinal game against unbeaten North Carolina, which the Spartans lost 74-70 in triple overtime. (North Carolina won its first national championship, defeating Kansas and Wilt Chamberlain 54-53 in triple overtime.)
“He jumps like he’s 6-10,” said Lennie Rosenbluth, a North Carolina all-American who scored 31 points against Michigan State but had numerous shots blocked by Green. “He has the quickest hands I’ve ever seen.”
In 1959, the Knicks drafted Green as the sixth overall pick in the first round of the NBA regular draft. (Chamberlain was selected by the Philadelphia Warriors, and Bob Ferry by the St. Louis Hawks in the now-defunct

territorial draft, in which teams may obtain popular players from local universities who would most likely attract spectators. Green participated in three All-Star Games while playing for New York clubs that did not make the playoffs. His most productive season with the Knicks was 1962-63, when he averaged 18.1 points and 12.1 rebounds.

Green’s Knicks also boasted excellent forwards Willie Naulls and Kenny Sears, as well as guards Richie Guerin and Carl Braun. However, they lacked a dominant center. They moved Green, along with forward Jim (Bad News) Barnes and guard Johnny Egan, to Baltimore in early November 1965 for the Bullets’ great center, Walt Bellamy, anticipating that Bellamy could be the answer to their long-standing quest for someone to match

up against Chamberlain and Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics. Bellamy was a good scorer, but the Knicks did not win their first NBA championship until 1970, with Willis Reed at center. After leaving the Bullets, Green played for the San Diego Rockets and the Philadelphia 76ers, where he appeared to be nearing the end of his career when he was released after the 1968-69 season.

But Bob Cousy, who had become the Cincinnati Royals’ coach following a successful career as a guard for championship Boston Celtic teams, believed Green was far from finished. He saw him as a good fit for Cousy’s fast-break offense and press defense.

Green signed with the Royals in September 1969 and, following a quick workout for Cousy, went on to lead the National Basketball Association in shooting percentage in his first two seasons in Cincinnati. In 1971, at the age of 37, he made his fourth All-Star Game appearance.

He finished his career with the Kansas City-Omaha Royals, Cincinnati’s successor team.

Throughout his NBA career, Green averaged 11.6 points and 8.6 rebounds despite playing only 23.3 minutes per game. However, he only played for three clubs that advanced to the playoffs.
John Michael Green was born December 8, 1933, in Dayton, Ohio. He was primarily reared by his mother, Catherine Perry, who worked as a souvenir seller.

As a teenager, he stood just under six feet tall.

and did not play basketball at Dunbar High School in Dayton. After working as a construction worker, he joined the Marines and enjoyed significant growth. While stationed in Japan, he participated on his unit’s basketball team and was noticed by Dick Evans, a Michigan State graduate who was coaching the base’s football team. Evans “saw that I could leap pretty well and asked me to dunk,” Green said in a 2009 interview with Michigan State. “I did it on the second try.”

Evans recommended Green to Spartans basketball coach Forddy Anderson, and Green paid a visit to the East Lansing campus while on leave. Anderson instructed him to return once he was discharged from the service.

Green did it, but he did not receive an athletic

Instead of a scholarship, they rely on G.I. Bill funding. After impressing Anderson while playing for the Spartans’ freshmen basketball team, he was elevated to the varsity in January 1957 and quickly became a star. Green led Michigan State to an outright Big Ten title and a second appearance in the NCAA tournament in 1959. In his final game, he scored 29 points and grabbed 23 rebounds in a defeat to Louisville in the Mideast Regional Final.

He averaged 16.9 points and 16.4 rebounds for the Spartans. His uniform number, 24, was eventually retired.

After retiring from professional basketball, Green bought a McDonald’s near New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Green’s first wife was Ester Dorsey Green. They had twins, Jeffrey and Johnny, and a daughter, Karen, before divorcing in the late 1970s. He had a daughter, Yvette Fogg, from a second marriage to Alzonia Green (her original surname was also Green); that marriage ended when she died in the mid-2000s.

In addition to Johnny Jr., Green is survived by his other children, as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Late in his career, Green reflected on his post-high school growth surge and the help he received from an unexpected source.

“I wasn’t big enough or good enough when I was a youngster,” he told United Press International in November 1972, as he began his final NBA season. “I developed late, and it took the U.S. Marines to come through for me.”