# Milton Green

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{{short description|American hurdler}}
{{other uses}}

'''Milton G. Green''' (October 31, 1913 – March 30, 2005) was a Jewish American track and field athlete who was a world record holder in [high hurdles](/source/Hurdling) during the 1930s.
thumb|Milton Green

==Track career==
A native of [Lowell, Massachusetts](/source/Lowell%2C_Massachusetts), Green was a standout in track at [Brookline High School](/source/Brookline_High_School).<ref name="HOF" /><ref name="Obituary" /> After preparing for college at [Phillips Exeter Academy](/source/Phillips_Exeter_Academy), Green attended [Cornell University](/source/Cornell_University) for one year, but did not participate in athletics.<ref name="Captain" /> He then transferred to [Harvard College](/source/Harvard_College), but was ineligible to compete during his sophomore year.<ref name="Captain" />

On March 17, 1934, Green tied the world record for 60-Meter high hurdles of 7.4 seconds at the [Knights of Columbus](/source/Knights_of_Columbus) Games at [Madison Square Garden](/source/Madison_Square_Garden_(1925)).<ref>{{cite news |title=Milt Green Wins Hurdles, Moynahan Cops 880 and Eagles Take Mile Relay in New York Track Meet |work=The Boston Globe |date=March 18, 1934}}</ref> On October 5, 1934, he won the 100-meter dash and 110-meter high hurdle, and broad jump events at a meet pitting American and Italian athletes at [Harvard Stadium](/source/Harvard_Stadium).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nason |first1=Jerry |title=Cerati's Fine Sprint Defeats McCluskey |work=The Boston Globe |date=October 6, 1934}}</ref> At the 1935 [William C. Prout](/source/William_C._Prout) Memorial Games, Green tied a world record by finishing the 45-yard high hurdles in 5.8 seconds.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nason |first1=Jerry |title=Huskies Win Fastest Mile Relay, Maine Takes Two-Mile, Woolford Cops Dash, Green First in Hurdles |work=The Boston Globe |date=January 27, 1935}}</ref> At the 1935 triangular track games between Harvard, Cornell, and [Dartmouth College](/source/Dartmouth_College) at the [Boston Garden](/source/Boston_Garden), he broke the meet record in the 45-Yard High Hurdles.<ref>{{cite news |title=Four Records Fall as Harvard Takes Triangular Track Meet for Tenth Time |work=The New York Times |date=March 10, 1935}}</ref>

Green was named captain of the Harvard track team for the 1935–36 season.<ref name="Captain">{{cite news |title=Green Harvard's Track Captain |work=The Boston Globe |date=June 9, 1935}}</ref> He  represented the school at the Harvard–[Yale](/source/Yale_University)–[Oxford](/source/University_of_Oxford)–[Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge) meet at [London](/source/London)'s [White City Stadium](/source/White_City_Stadium) and won the broad jump and 220-yard low hurdles.<ref>{{cite news |title=Harvard and Yale Victors In England |work=The Boston Globe |date=July 21, 1935}}</ref> In 1936, the annual triangular track meet at Boston Garden was expanded to include Yale. Green won three events (50-yard dash, running broad jump, and 45-yard high hurdles) at the inaugural quadrangular meet.<ref>{{cite news |title=Harvard Athletes Carry Off Laurels in Quadrangular Track Games at Boston |work=The New York Times |date=March 1, 1936}}</ref> He won the 50-meter hurdles at the 1936 [IC4A](/source/IC4A) indoor championship at Madison Square Garden, but Harvard finished the standings behind [Manhattan College](/source/Manhattan_College) and Yale.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nason |first1=Jerry |title=Milt Green, Stan Johnson, Kishon and Geniawicz Win I.C.4-A. Titles--Dubiel Ties For Vault Crow |work=The Boston Globe |date=March 8, 1936}}</ref> That same month, he competed in the annual track meet at the [Maple Leaf Gardens](/source/Maple_Leaf_Gardens), but lost in the broad jump to Canadian [Sam Richardson](/source/Sam_Richardson_(athlete)).<ref>{{cite news |title=Joe Mangan Clips Canada Mile Mark |work=The Boston Globe |date=March 21, 1936}}</ref> At the 1936 Heptagonal Games, Green won three events, the 110-meter high hurdles, 200-meter low hurdles, and the broad jump, and set the meet record in the later two.<ref>{{cite news |title=Harvard, Paced by Green, Wins in Heptagonal Meet |work=The New York Times |date=May 10, 1936}}</ref> At that year's Harvard-Yale meet, he won the 100-meter high hurdles, 200-meter low hurdles, and broad jump.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fowle |first1=Leonard |title=Harvard Drubs Yale As "Roomies" Triple |work=The Boston Globe |date=March 24, 1936}}</ref> He suffered a leg injury prior to the 1936 IC4A outdoor championships at [Franklin Field](/source/Franklin_Field) and finished second behind John Donovan (son of [Patsy Donovan](/source/Patsy_Donovan)) in the high hurdles.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Daley |first1=Arthur |title=Cornell's Trackmen Win; Harvard 2d, Dartmouth 3d |work=The New York Times |date=May 31, 1936}}</ref> His injury forced him to withdraw from a meet at [Princeton University](/source/Princeton_University) the following month.<ref>{{cite news |title=Milton Green Withdraws From Meet At Princeton |work=The Boston Globe |date=June 6, 1936}}</ref> At the [1936 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships](/source/1936_USA_Outdoor_Track_and_Field_Championships), he finished third in the long jump behind [Jesse Owens](/source/Jesse_Owens) and Kermit King.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jolley |first1=Levi |title=Owens Victor in Sprint and Jump |work=Afro-American |date=July 11, 1936}}</ref>

Green was considered a leading contender to make the Olympic team in 1936.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nason |first1=Jerry |title=Olympic Aspirants' Best 1936 Efforts |work=The Boston Globe |date=June 25, 1936}}</ref> He and his Harvard teammate [Norman Cahners](/source/Norman_Cahners) chose to protest the event being held in [Nazi Germany](/source/Nazi_Germany) on the advice of Rabbi Harry Levy of [Temple Israel](/source/Temple_Israel_(Boston)) in [Boston](/source/Boston).<ref name="HOF" /> However, their boycott was not publicized at the time. According to Green, "Both Cahners and I decided that we would boycott the Olympics. We just felt it was the right thing to do. I spoke to the track coach at Harvard. We told him about our intention. He tried to persuade us not to do it. He said he didn't think it would do much good, and we should try to go to the final tryouts and try to make the team. But we didn't want to do that. After we boycotted the Olympics, no one came to speak to us or ask us if we'd make any statements about it. And I don't think anyone knew particularly that we did boycott it. I think back on making that decision and whether I would have won silver or gold or some sort of a medal, and every time I go to the Olympics—I've been to three of them—I particularly watch the high hurdles and the long jump, and I picture myself as maybe having won a medal in it."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/olympics/detail.php?content=american_boycotters_milton_green&lang=en |title=The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 {{pipe}} American Boycotters - Milton Green |accessdate=2011-04-23 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315045513/http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/olympics/detail.php?content=american_boycotters_milton_green&lang=en |archivedate=2012-03-15 }}</ref>

Green was inducted into the Harvard Athletic Hall of Fame in 1970 and the [International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame](/source/International_Jewish_Sports_Hall_of_Fame) in 1997.<ref name="HOF">{{cite news |last1=Gelbwasser |first1=Michael |title=Fastest kid on playground runs into Jewish sports hall |work=Jewish Advocate |date=July 10, 1997}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Green graduated from Harvard College in 1936 and attended the [Harvard Business School](/source/Harvard_Business_School) in 1937. In 1940, he married Ruth Pinanski.<ref>{{cite news |title=Miss Ruth Pinanski Is Betrothed to Milton G. Green |work=The Boston Globe |date=March 24, 1940}}</ref> They had two daughters. Ruth Green died in 1983 and Green later married Ruby Herman.<ref name="Obituary" /> During [World War II](/source/World_War_II), Green was a lieutenant commander in a [United States Navy](/source/United_States_Navy) [anti-submarine warfare](/source/anti-submarine_warfare) unit.<ref name="HOF" />

==Business career==
Green and his brother, Alan, formed the Green Development Corp. In 1955, the Greens purchased the former town farm property in [Saugus, Massachusetts](/source/Saugus%2C_Massachusetts) with plans to construct a large [shopping center](/source/shopping_center). The [New England Shopping Center](/source/Square_One_Mall) was completed in 1961.<ref>{{cite news |title=Seven Years of Faith and Perseverance Pay Off for Green Brothers in Saugus: Welcome Mat Out at N.E. Shopping Center |url=https://img.newspapers.com/img/img?user=1258313&id=433711178&clippingId=21944719&width=820&height=1318&crop=86_120_4822_7756&rotation=0 |access-date=29 December 2024 |work=The Boston Globe |date=September 27, 1961}}</ref> The pair also developed the Lewiston Mall in [Lewiston, Maine](/source/Lewiston%2C_Maine) and the Turnpike Mall in [Augusta, Maine](/source/Augusta%2C_Maine).<ref>{{cite news |title=Lewiston Taxes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X5YgAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA1&dq |access-date=29 December 2024 |work=The Lewiston Daily Sun |date=September 15, 1971}}</ref>

==Later life==
A former resident of [Newton, Massachusetts](/source/Newton%2C_Massachusetts), Green spent his later years in Boston and [Palm Beach, Florida](/source/Palm_Beach%2C_Florida).<ref name="Obituary" /> In August 2004, the [Associated Press](/source/Associated_Press) falsely reported that he had died at the age of 92, due to a confusion with a man of same name.<ref>{{cite news |title=Milton Green, 92; World-Record Hurdler Boycotted 1936 Games |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-aug-07-me-passings7.1-story.html |access-date=29 December 2024 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=August 7, 2004}}</ref> He died on March 30, 2005 in [Palm Beach Gardens, Florida](/source/Palm_Beach_Gardens%2C_Florida) and was buried in the [Temple Israel Cemetery](/source/Temple_Israel_Cemetery_(Wakefield%2C_Massachusetts)) in [Wakefield, Massachusetts](/source/Wakefield%2C_Massachusetts).<ref name="Obituary">{{cite news |last1=Long |first1=Tom |title=Milton Green, At 91; World-Class Hurdler Had Read His Own Obituary |work=The Boston Globe |date=March 31, 2005}}</ref>

==See also==
*[List of select Jewish track and field athletes](/source/List_of_Jews_in_sports)
*[List of prematurely reported obituaries](/source/List_of_prematurely_reported_obituaries)

==References==
{{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Milton}}
Category:1913 births
Category:2005 deaths
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:20th-century American sportsmen
Category:21st-century American Jews
Category:American businesspeople in the real estate industry
Category:American men hurdlers
Category:Burials at Temple Israel Cemetery (Wakefield, Massachusetts)
Category:Harvard Crimson men's track and field athletes
Category:Jewish American track and field athletes
Category:Jews from Massachusetts
Category:Sportspeople from Brookline, Massachusetts
Category:Sportspeople from Lowell, Massachusetts
Category:Sportspeople from Newton, Massachusetts
Category:Track and field athletes from Massachusetts
Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Milton Green](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Green) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Green?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.
