Milton Green

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 during the 1930s.

Track career

A native of Lowell, Massachusetts, Green was a standout in track at Brookline High School. After preparing for college at Phillips Exeter Academy, Green attended Cornell University for one year, but did not participate in athletics. He then transferred to Harvard College, but was ineligible to compete during his sophomore year.

On March 17, 1934, Green tied the world record for 60-Meter high hurdles of 7.4 seconds at the Knights of Columbus Games at Madison Square Garden.{{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}} 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.{{cite news |last1=Nason |first1=Jerry |title=Cerati's Fine Sprint Defeats McCluskey |work=The Boston Globe |date=October 6, 1934}} At the 1935 William C. Prout Memorial Games, Green tied a world record by finishing the 45-yard high hurdles in 5.8 seconds.{{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}} At the 1935 triangular track games between Harvard, Cornell, and Dartmouth College at the Boston Garden, he broke the meet record in the 45-Yard Hight Hurdles.{{cite news |title=Four Records Fall as Harvard Takes Triangular Track Meet for Tenth Time |work=The New York Times |date=March 10, 1935}}

Green was named captain of the Harvard track team for the 1935–36 season.{{cite news |title=Green Harvard's Track Captain |work=The Boston Globe |date=June 9, 1935}} He represented the school at the Harvard–Yale–Oxford–Cambridge meet at London's White City Stadium and won the broad jump and 220-yard low hurdles.{{cite news |title=Harvard and Yale Victors In England |work=The Boston Globe |date=July 21, 1935}} 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.{{cite news |title=Harvard Athletes Carry Off Laurels in Quadrangular Track Games at Boston |work=The New York Times |date=March 1, 1936}} He won the 50-meter hurdles at the 1936 IC4A indoor championship at Madison Square Garden, but Harvard finished the standings behind Manhattan College and Yale.{{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}} That same month, he competed in the annual track meet at the Maple Leaf Gardens, but lost in the broad jump to Canadian Sam Richardson.{{cite news |title=Joe Mangan Clips Canada Mile Mark |work=The Boston Globe |date=March 21, 1936}} 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.{{cite news |title=Harvard, Paced by Green, Wins in Heptagonal Meet |work=The New York Times |date=May 10, 1936}} At that year's Harvard-Yale meet, he won the 100-meter high hurdles, 200-meter low hurdles, and broad jump.{{cite news |last1=Fowle |first1=Leonard |title=Harvard Drubs Yale As "Roomies" Triple |work=The Boston Globe |date=March 24, 1936}} He suffered a leg injury prior to the 1936 IC4A outdoor championships at Franklin Field and finished second behind John Donovan (son of Patsy Donovan) in the high hurdles.{{cite news |last1=Daley |first1=Arthur |title=Cornell's Trackmen Win; Harvard 2d, Dartmouth 3d |work=The New York Times |date=May 31, 1936}} His injury forced him to withdraw from a meet at Princeton University the following month.{{cite news |title=Milton Green Withdraws From Meet At Princeton |work=The Boston Globe |date=June 6, 1936}} At the 1936 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, he finished third in the long jump behind Jesse Owens and Kermit King.{{cite news |last1=Jolley |first1=Levi |title=Owens Victor in Sprint and Jump |work=Afro-American |date=July 11, 1936}}

Green was considered a leading contender to make the Olympic team in 1936.{{cite news |last1=Nason |first1=Jerry |title=Olympic Aspirants' Best 1936 Efforts |work=The Boston Globe |date=June 25, 1936}} He and his Harvard teammate Norman Cahners chose to protest the event being held in Nazi Germany on the advice of Rabbi Harry Levy of Temple Israel in Boston. 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."{{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 }}

Green was inducted into the Harvard Athletic Hall of Fame in 1970 and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.{{cite news |last1=Gelbwasser |first1=Michael |title=Fastest kid on playground runs into Jewish sports hall |work=Jewish Advocate |date=July 10, 1997}}

Personal life

Green graduated from Harvard College in 1936 and attended the Harvard Business School in 1937. In 1940, he married Ruth Pinanski.{{cite news |title=Miss Ruth Pinanski Is Betrothed to Milton G. Green |work=The Boston Globe |date=March 24, 1940}} They had two daughters. Ruth Green died in 1983 and Green later married Ruby Herman. During World War II, Green was a lieutenant commander in a United States Navy anti-submarine warfare unit.

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 with plans to construct a large shopping center. The New England Shopping Center was completed in 1961.{{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}} The pair also developed the Lewiston Mall in Lewiston, Maine and the Turnpike Mall in Augusta, Maine.{{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}}

Later life

A former resident of Newton, Massachusetts, Green spent his later years in Boston and Palm Beach, Florida. In August 2004, the Associated Press falsely reported that he had died at the age of 92.{{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}} He died on March 30, 2005 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and was buried in the Temple Israel Cemetery in Wakefield, Massachusetts.{{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}}