Jerry Green, a Detroit sports writer who covered 56 consecutive Super Bowls, has died at 94, The Detroit News said Friday.
Green retired as a columnist at the News in 2004 but continued to attend the Super Bowl for the newspaper until this year.
His streak began with Green Bay’s 35-10 victory over Kansas City in the first Super Bowl in 1967.
It ended with Super Bowl 2023 in February.
“To me, a proud honorable streak,” Green wrote in announcing the end of his run. “Hard work. A bit of notoriety, lots of deadlines — and dead ideas.”
“Jerry Green is part of the very fabric of the Super Bowl!” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told the News in January.
Green, a native of New York City, died Thursday night, the News reported.
He was a sports writer in Detroit for The Associated Press before joining the News in 1963.
“I’ve never wanted to do anything else,” Green said earlier this year about a career covering a variety of pro and college sports.
News editor and publisher Gary Miles said Green was an icon.
“And he was unabashedly proud of the paper, his contributions and his colleagues. He gave us his all and we’ll miss him,” Miles said.
Before the Super Bowl era, Green covered the 1957 NFL championship game, which was won by the Detroit Lions.
“We are saddened to hear of the passing of former Detroit News columnist Jerry Green,” the Lions wrote in a team statement Friday. “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.
“Jerry’s dedication to covering the NFL was perhaps best reflected in his unprecedented streak of covering 56 consecutive Super Bowls over the course of his career. His work was instrumental in promoting the game of football and expanding interest in the NFL. We extend our thoughts and prayers to the Green family and all who knew him.”
The Lions still haven’t played in a Super Bowl.
“I don’t think I’ll last that long,” Green jokingly told Crain’s Detroit Business in 2019.