The Chicago Zephyrs had a reasonable idea in 1962: draft Cornell Green to play professional basketball. He had been an All-American at Utah State, and the NBA club used the 37th selection on him.
Dallas had a different idea. Gil Brandt's personnel operation invited Green to Cowboys training camp despite his lack of college football experience. What followed should make anyone responsible for evaluating players a little less comfortable with the usual sorting methods.
Green died Wednesday at 86, the Cowboys announced. The team gave no cause of death. His thirteen-season NFL playing career was spent entirely with Dallas, and its achievements make the basketball-to-football story considerably more than a charming scouting anecdote.
An invitation is inexpensive compared with a career. The interesting part is what Green did after getting through the door. He became a cornerback who received three Pro Bowl selections, then a safety who received two more. The AP's All-Pro first team included Green in 1966 and again the following year, 1967. Those are football credentials, however unusual the route that preceded them.
His basketball record explains why there was an athlete worth examining. At Utah State, Green collected 1,067 rebounds, still the school's career record, and scored 1,890 points. His Utah State seasons of 1961 and 1962 both brought All-American recognition. The Cowboys were considering someone already accomplished in a different demanding sport, rather than inventing ability out of an unconventional résumé.
That still leaves a large distance between a promising candidate and an NFL defensive back. Basketball success does not automatically supply football technique, knowledge or judgment. Green's subsequent career demonstrates that he made the transition; it does not establish a universal recruiting formula for every tall basketball player.
The fifth-round NBA selection, in particular, gives the choice some substance. Green had a recognized professional pathway in the sport he had played in college. The Cowboys offered another possibility. The choice also reverses the usual way this story gets told: Dallas was asking a recognized basketball prospect to consider its opportunity, rather than simply offering a fallback to someone without one.
Once he made the Dallas roster, the experiment stopped being theoretical. Green played in each of the 182 regular-season contests scheduled over his career. Fifteen playoff appearances followed alongside that uninterrupted attendance. The organization had found someone whose usefulness could be assessed repeatedly against NFL opponents.
The assessment also survived a changed job. After eight seasons at cornerback, Green moved to safety in 1970. His Pro Bowl selections in 1971 and 1972 came from that second position. The progression gives the scouting story a second dimension: Dallas initially recognized a possibility, then found another way to employ an established player.
Green finished with 34 interceptions. He also played on the team that earned the Cowboys' first Super Bowl title, defeating Miami in January 1972. Those achievements belong in the account because they distinguish a successful football career from an interesting athletic conversion. Making a roster was the beginning of the evidence, rather than the final accomplishment.
