(Photos by Andrea Hahn)
May 19, 2010
Ten questions with ... Gene Green
Job on campus/department you work in: Director of Communications for SIU Alumni Association and editor of “Southern Alumni” magazine
How long at SIUC: 20 years -- 10 years at SIU Athletics, 10 years with the SIU Alumni Association
Hometown: Marion
When you were a youngster, what did you want to be when you grew up? A Major League Baseball player -- that didn’t happen, so I decided to put myself in the position to write about those who got there.
People don’t know that you… worked at another university in Missouri for 10 years before coming back to Southern Illinois in 1990, and, in addition to working as the Sports Information Director there, also coached the baseball team for two years. In fact, I coached once in Florida against Saluki coach Dan Callahan when he was at Eastern Illinois University.
If you could choose another profession, what would it be and why? I love what I do, so I don’t really think much about that kind of thing.
What is something you still want to accomplish in life? If we’re blessed with the health and resources to do it, my wife and I want to travel as much as we can when we retire. We’ve been to several places -- including Ireland three times -- but there is more to see!
What is one random fact about you? Like many SIUC alums, I was the first member of my family to graduate from college. My wife Pam (’75) and daughter Kelcie (’08) are also Southern graduates, and our son Brian is a student at John A. Logan College.
Cats or dogs? Dogs. Right now we have two Australian shepherds.
What is your favorite food and why? My wife Pam’s lasagna, or actually just about anything she fixes.
Who has inspired you, and how? My mother inspired me much more than she ever knew. The sacrifices she made for me to get an education made it almost impossible for me to fail.
What is your pet peeve? People who miss deadlines!
What would you like your gravestone to say about you? There is an old epitaph in Scotland that I saw once that was pretty good: “See. I told you I was sick!”