By FRED KRONER
Some knew Terry Greene as a youth basketball coach.
Others knew him as president of the Mahomet-Seymour Board of Education.
For some, it was for his reporting skills as a sportswriter for the Mahomet Citizen.
Still others associated him with his talents as a minor league baseball announcer or with helping put together M-S high school sports broadcasts.
Whatever the capacity in which they knew Greene, it was universally agreed that he was an advocate for the community, the schools and the people in Mahomet.
Greene, 70, passed away last week (Friday, Jan. 8) at his home in Georgia. He had undergone surgery in December for a tumor on his brain, but had not yet started radiation or chemotherapy.
“His time was not his own,” said former M-S teacher Jim Risley. “He used it to help other people. He served Mahomet in a lot of roles.”
Bryan James first knew Greene as the father of one of his classmates, Brady Greene.
“He had a profound impact,” James said. “Terry was instrumental in getting a fifth- and sixth-grade traveling team (in basketball) together.
“It’s as you grow up and the years pass that you start to appreciate the things that were done on your behalf. He was working, but everyday at 3:30 he was in the gym (for practice). You don’t think of those things when you’re 12 or 13.”
M-S’ 15th-year athletic director Matt Hensley saw Greene’s influence during the years he served on the school board.
“I felt like he was supportive of our athletic programs and in doing what was in the best interests of our kids and the school district,” Hensley said.
Greene was on the M-S school board for a decade, starting in 2005. He served as president from 2009-2015 and was elected to another four-year term in the spring of 2015.
He resigned in August, 2015, after accepting a job near Chattanooga, Tenn. Board member Max McComb was selected to replace Greene as the school board president and still serves in that capacity.
McComb and Greene worked together on the school board for seven years.
“Terry was the driving force behind (adding) junior high baseball and softball,” McComb said. “We had not had those, but it came about through his initiative. He thought our kids needed those.
“He rallied the board to do that at a time there were some budget concerns. It took some convincing.”
McComb and Greene often traveled together.
“His kids had graduated and mine had graduated,” McComb said. “Terry became a sportswriter (with the Citizen) and went to almost every away football and basketball game.
“He’d call on Tuesday and Friday afternoons and ask if I was free. Spending time with him was really neat. We learned a lot about each other’s past, where we came from and how we got here.”
McComb recalled one trip that he and Greene made that wasn’t to a ball game.
“In one election campaign signs went up that exceeded the village guidelines for size,” McComb said. “No one caught it when the signs were ordered.
“I drove with Terry one night in sub-zero weather, cutting the signs down to size so they would comply. It was so cold we were concerned we’d cut our finger with the box-cutter and not even feel it.”
McComb said Greene set a positive example that he followed after taking over as the school board president.
“From his time in the world of politics, Terry brought a calm, let’s not panic, but get to the bottom approach,” McComb said.
“He wouldn’t hit the panic button, but would move into an info-gathering mode. He had the ability to bring different people together to solve issues and get things accomplished.
“He had been doing this a long time and I felt I had big shoes to fill. He had a breadth of experience not only in politics, but in life in general.”
The repeated success, McComb said, was due in part to Greene’s values.
“Back then, in those days, Mahomet was pretty conservative and Terry was adamant that the school board was non-partisan,” McComb said. “He had ways of reaching out and bringing people together.
“Today, the political climate is much more divided. He was bound and determined that wouldn’t happen at the local level and he was successful at that. You could never question his intentions.”
Among Greene’s jobs was as the chief of staff for former Illinois Congressman Thomas Ewing.
“Terry had a lot of common-sense sayings,” McComb said. “One was when things were not going well that no one ever wants to be judged by or remembered for their worst day. That’s something I’ve hung onto.
“When there was a situation, he never got too excited out of the gate. He said Step 1 is not to react. Step 1 is to get the whole story. Then use your people resources. If there’s an area that needs to be addressed, look for a person with expertise in that area and bring in the right people.”
James said Greene had pet expressions that he shared, sometimes frequently.
“We called them Terry-isms,” James said. “When he needed to get me, or a group, to focus, it was ‘Eye of the Tiger.’
“Another one was about an official who had reffed a lot of his kids’ games. He said, ‘He is seldom right, but never uncertain.’
“When we would make a turnover, he would say, ‘You were trying to fit a walnut through a straw.’ He was a man of many expressions.”
Another one, McComb added, was spoken, he said when Greene thought something wasn’t adding up, “the curtains don’t quite match the carpet.”
Risley’s son, Grant, played on several teams that Green coached and he appreciated his level-headed approach.
“Terry always gave a firm and consistent message,” Risley said. “My son coached at St. Joe and used things he learned from Terry.”
Risley said he can only think of one thing that Greene got wrong.
“Terry had a great love and respect for his No. 1 hero, his dad,” Risley said, “for his honor, integrity and commitment to serve people.
“He said he would like to be an intermediary between his dad for his kids. Terry was not an intermediary. He was the real deal and was a great father to his kids. He had a huge influence on a lot of young people.”
James, a 2004 M-S graduate, said his memories of Greene include more than what he learned about the game of basketball, though he acknowledged, “he was a good tactician and a good strategist.
“He was equal parts toughness and compassion,” James continued. “He was all integrity and a good morale-booster. All of us in sports benefitted from his knowledge and giving spirit.”
Greene was the school board president when Middletown Prairie became more than a concept and ground was first broken for the village’s east-side elementary school.
McComb saw a parallel in Greene’s personal life and the construction of the school.
“Terry had a dream his last few years here,” McComb said. “He had a fascination with log homes and wanted something with woods, mountains, scenery and was so excited for his dream home.”
Greene left a job as executive director of the Home Builders in Central Illinois for a similar position in the Chattanooga area. The Greenes relocated to a location near Lookout Mountain, Ga.
“A lot of people have goals and ambitions, but they never get to live them out,” said McComb, who regularly kept in touch with Greene following his move.”
The conversations were more than just two friends talking about the past.
“He loved this community and the people in this community,” McComb said. “He watched and kept up-to-date on what was going on in the community.
“It maintained his heart and his interest.”
Greene is survived by his wife of 39 years, Patricia, and four sons: Patrick (Mary Carol) of Wichita, Kan., Brady (Sonnet) of Moline, Douglas at home and Teddy (Carmen) of Denver, Colo., along with two grandsons in Denver, his mother and two sisters.
The family plans to hold a remembrance service in Mahomet at a later date.
