Two statues will be unveiled on college campuses this weekend.

The University of North Texas will unveil a bronze statue of Hall of Fame football player Joe Greene outside the main entrance of Apogee Stadium in Denton Saturday.

Louisiana Tech’s Bulldogs, 2-1, will play North Texas, 4-0, at 6:30 that night. As a Tech alum, I am grateful that Mean Joe Greene is no longer eligible to play. The Mean Green are 8-point favorites and Joe, we are fairly certain, has five or six good plays still in him

This Greene quote from the North Texas news release:

“I am overwhelmed by the thought of a Joe Greene statue at the University of North Texas,” Greene said. “It is beyond my wildest expectations that the university thought enough of me as a player and a person to bestow such an honor to me and my family. It will be special for my kids, grandkids and all the generations that follow to see their father and grandfather displayed in such a manner.”

His North Texas teams went 23-5-1 in his three seasons as a defensive tackle. He was a three-time All-Missouri Valley Conference selection from 1966-68 and is the only North Texas player to ever earn consensus All-America honors. He was drafted fourth overall in the 1969 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was the NFL’s Rookie of the Year in 1969 and, before he retired after the 1981 season, he helped the Steelers win four Super Bowl titles and was a Pro Bowl selection 10 times, was named first team All-Pro five times and was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1972 and 1974. He was named NFL Man of the Year in 1979 and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1987.

He is also part of an iconic Coke commercial. Please Google it if you’ve never seen it. A sportswriter friend of mine was part of a group interviewing him when one of the writers said, “I heard it took a lot of takes and you had to drink like 15 Cokes and…”

“The kid kept messing up!,” Greene said. “Not me!”

Beautiful.

In Baton Rouge, LSU will unveil a statue of the great Billy Cannon at 6:30 p.m. today/Friday. Cannon’s 89-yard punt return in the fourth quarter on Oct. 31, 1959, in Tiger Stadium gave No. 1 LSU a 7-3 win over No. 3 Ole Miss and led to him winning LSU’s only Heisman Trophy. He passed away May 20 at age 80.

The Tigers, 4-0, 1-0 in the SEC with a victory over Auburn, are in Tiger Stadium against Ole Miss 3-1, 0-1, at 8:15 p.m. Saturday. You can watch it on ESPN.

And you can watch Dr. Cannon’s run, for sure. It’ll play, I guarantee.

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