How do you say goodbye to a man who meant so much to a community?
You conduct services at a place he loved and a place large enough to hold his many family and friends.
That was the scene Wednesday night at the Prairie Grove gym, where the line forming outside surpassed any for a heated Prairie Grove vs. Farmington basketball game. The crowd was there to pay final respects to Mike Green, former coach and athletic director at Prairie Grove who died last week from Cancer. He was 66.
There were plenty of tears and a few funny lines about Green, who was voted best athlete, most popular, and wittiest as a high school senior at Lead Hill in 1966. The bleachers on both sides of the Prairie Grove gym were filled and 15 rows of chairs were placed on the court, where Green spent many of his best days.
The gym was sweltering and some in attendance fanned themselves with the speed of hummingbirds. But if anyone complained or left during the funeral, it wasn't noticeable.
Arkansas coach Mike Anderson was there as was many of Green's former friends and colleagues on the basketball court.
"I've known Mike since his Lead Hill days," said Charles Berry, the longtime girls basketball coach at Huntsville. "He was a tremendous competitor and a tremendous coach. His youngsters played as hard as anybody. His teams came at you full force, boys and girls. His teams were so hard to beat and I felt like he was going to get the calls at the end because he was on the referees so hard."
Green was hired as girls coach at Prairie Grove in 1983 and he eventually coached both the Tigers and Lady Tigers in basketball. He was selected Coach of the Year 18 times by the Arkansas Athletic Association and led his teams to numerous conference championships and state tournament appearances.
But Green was much more than a successful coach. That was evident when the lights were dimmed Wednesday and a video presentation of Green's life showed many more family photos than his appearances on the court.
"Everything I've done professionally, I owe to Mike," said Steve Edmiston, who played for Green at Prairie Grove and later followed him as the Tigers' basketball coach. "He was there for my college graduation (at Arkansas) and he was able to get me on staff here a year after I graduated. I learned a lot by playing for him and coaching with him. He looked out for me in all facets, not just coaching, and I'm thankful I got to be with him for as long as I did."
Edmiston joined a line of former players who climbed a step ladder and cut down the net on one of the basketball goals. One-by-one, tears welled in the eyes of former players as they each sliced a piece of the net in Green's honor.
"My junior year we played in the Elite Eight, so I got to play on one of his better teams," said Nathan Ogden, who graduated from Prairie Grove in 1997. "Playing for Coach Green was always fun and, if we got in some kind of trouble, he had our backs. He was able to turn so many boys into young men."
Katie Young sang "Amazing Grace" before the video presentation was accompanied by some of Green's favorite songs, from "Time in a bottle" to "Born to be wild" and "Center Field (Put me in coach)."
At the end of the service, family and friends trickled out of the gym and into the darkness as "Sittin' on the dock of the Bay" played as a final musical tribute. The song was an appropriate farewell to a man who now sails to a better place free from the pain of Cancer and without the heartache of loved ones who've passed before him.
Goodbye, Mike. You will be missed.
RICK FIRES IS A SPORTS WRITER FOR NWA NEWSPAPERS
Sports on 09/07/2014