NFL legend Darrell Green adds Houston ISD honor to illustrious career

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Darrell Green's latest distinction causes a bit of disbelief.

"Like, are you kidding me?" Green asked during a Thursday interview with ABC13. "I would have never dreamed, in a million years, that this would happen."

Green, a two-time Super Bowl champion who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008, is part of the inaugural class of the Houston Independent School District's Athletic Hall of Honors.

"If you know my story, it's like, how in the world did you get here?" Green added.

The former Jones High School athlete is right. Few, if anyone, would've believed his HISD career would result in a Hall of Fame nod.

That's partially because he did not make the varsity team until his senior season.

"I was a nobody," Green said while speaking of his junior varsity experience during a Zoom interview from his home near Washington, D.C. "You're riding the bus and playing in the back of the school while the varsity guys would ride out to go to Barnett Stadium."

He said pride pushed him to earn a spot on the varsity team as a 12th grader, and then on the team at what is now Texas A&M Kingsville as a walk-on.

Years later, the pride is still there. Now, it's for his beloved hometown and his latest honor.

"There's great pride all around this country for Houston," Green noted. "There's a lot of great people that have come out of there, and people that have come there and stayed there and have been very successful there. We have very great reason to be proud of our city."

You better believe it, even if Green, the district's newest hall of famer, still can't.