Green adored by Lions, Firebirds alike

Nick Ayre concedes it will be “a little weird” to look across the field Friday night and see Adam Green.

Ayre is a senior wide receiver on Free State High’s football team, and Green was Ayre’s position coach last season. During the summer, however, Green switched to Lawrence High.

“We all love him still,” Ayre said, “but it can’t be this week : at least until after the game.”

Brett Lisher, another Free State senior wide receiver, feels the same way.

“I’m going to give that guy a big hug after the game, win or lose,” Lisher said.

And, of course, when the Lions and Firebirds tangle at 7 p.m. Friday at Memorial Stadium, Green will have mixed emotions about Ayre, Lisher and the other Free State players he left behind.

“I have real good memories of when I was there,” Green said. “That was an exciting time for me.”

Lawrence High assistant Adam Green works with a group of Lions during practice. Green, shown Tuesday at LHS, was an assistant at Free State until this season.

Green, 32, worked for four years under Free State coach Bob Lisher as a Rule 10 aide. In other words, he was not a member of the faculty at the time. Instead, he was working odd jobs and earning a teaching certificate.

Short list

Then, when Lawrence High was looking for a physical education instructor who would double as a football and baseball assistant, Lawrence High coach Dirk Wedd didn’t have to compile a long list of potential prospects.

“Adam coached with me one year when I was our baseball coach,” Wedd said, “and I loved the way to related to kids. He brings a great deal of energy and enthusiasm, too.”

Although his Free State and Lawrence High gigs are similar – he also was a baseball aide with the Firebirds – Green’s specific football assignment is tutoring the Lions’ running backs.

Nolan Kellerman, the Lions’ leading rusher this fall, says he was awed when he heard Green would join Wedd’s staff and coach the ball-carriers.

“He was an all-state running back,” Kellerman said, “and who’s better to tell you what to do than someone like that?”

At first glance, few would peg Green as a former all-state running back when he suited for the Lions. He weighs about five pounds more now than he did in the early ’90s when he played on three straight Class 6A championship teams, and Green’s current weight is 150.

Green may not look the part, but none of his pupils – they were pre-schoolers when he played for the Lions – ever has doubted his exploits.

“I believe it,” Ayre said. “He’s a little fireball.”

Lisher had additional proof. He heard about Green’s career from his father and current coach Bob Lisher, also a former LHS football player.

“I knew he was a great running back, because my dad told me stories about him,” Brett Lisher said. “He wasn’t very big, but he was full of heart.”

Nearly 2,000 yards

At just 5-foot-7 and 145 pounds, Green rushed for nearly 2,000 yards and almost 20 touchdowns in a Lawrence High uniform. He and Michael Cosey formed one of the most potent ball-carrying duos in the Lions’ storied history.

At 5-9 and 170 pounds, Kellerman also will go down in history as one of the Lions’ best ball-carriers. For that, he credits Green.

“He was smaller than me,” Kellerman said, “but he worked so hard and he proved you can do it. I’m not the fastest, biggest or tallest running back, and he’s inspired me.”

Kellerman remembers having Green as an assistant baseball coach when he was in the seventh and eighth grade.

“I knew he was a great guy and a competitor from then,” Kellerman said. “But I didn’t know he was as good as he was.”

For his part, Green still is in the bittersweet mode – happy in what he’s doing, yet missing his former Free State players.

“I really haven’t seen a lot of those guys since the season started,” Green said. “I’m close to a lot of them. I had Brett Lisher in football and baseball, so he’s a special kid to me. Nick Ayre, too.”

Basically, they all belong to a 51-week mutual admiration society.

“There’s just one week,” Green said, smiling, “that I’m not rooting for them.”