Former EKU football player gifts $250K for new locker room

Played on 1967 bowl champions

RICHMOND, Ky. (July 11, 2017) —  Ted Green, a former all-Ohio Valley Conference safety who graduated from Eastern Kentucky University in 1970 and went on to a highly successful business career, has gifted $250,000 to dedicate a new football locker room to the ’67 team, which went 8-1-2 and beat Ball State University 27-13 in the Grantland Rice Bowl.

EKU went on to win national I-AA titles in 1979 and 1982 (and finish as runners-up in 1980 and 1981), but the ’67 team is just as fondly remembered today.

“The Grantland Rice Bowl team was a group of guys that were all fortunate to arrive at EKU for various reasons and formed a very close team,” Green said. “We only had four or five superstars. The rest of us worked very hard to be the best we could be. We are all very proud of putting the program on the map.”

Green’s gift will primarily be used to purchase “the best of the best” lockers and “enhance the space to give our players an elite locker room experience,” according to Austin Newton, assistant athletics director for development. “It will make the locker room one of the premier facilities in the country for many years to come.” A plaque in the facility will recognize the ’67 team.

The locker room is part of the expansion project on the east side of Roy Kidd Stadium, which is expected to open this fall and feature more than 3,000 new bleacher seats and a concourse with modern concessions and restroom facilities. The first floor is dedicated to the benefit of Colonel football student-athletes and will include the locker room, team lounge, equipment room and game-day training area.

Green earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from EKU and, since 1991, has served as president and chief executive officer of Sterling Independent Services Inc. and as administrator of the Sterling Institutional Review Board, which was established to protect the safety and welfare of human subjects who participate in clinical research. He was inducted into the EKU Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2004.

Members of the 1967 team will be on campus the weekend of Sept. 23 when the Colonels host conference rival Tennessee Tech.