Adam Green has coached hundreds of games and been a part of more early-inning situations than he can count. But the one he experienced on Wednesday in Manhattan was different than any of them.

Back on the Kansas State campus for the annual Kansas Senior All-Star Game, Green assumed Wednesday’s game would be just like any other. And through one inning it was. But then the public address announcer grabbed the microphone and honored Green on the field with the 2022 Derek Leppert Award, given annually to the top Class 5A/6A assistant coach in Kansas.

As he turned to accept the award on the field, Green discovered that his own personal cheering section had made the trip to Manhattan for the ceremony. It included family, friends, his parents, a couple of longtime mentors and even his college coach at K-State from 1993-96.

Green, 48, has never coached for accolades or appreciation, but when it landed in his lap this week, even he was overjoyed and a little emotional.

“That was great,” Green told the Journal-World on Friday. “Sometimes being an assistant coach can be a lonely job, but I’ve always thought and been made to feel like it’s really important. So, to be honored like that, with so many people who mean so much to me there to see it, was incredible.”

Green’s career in athletics started decades ago. After doing what all kids do in his younger years — he called himself “a professional player,” as in one who plays, not a pro — the 1992 Lawrence High graduate became a bona fide star for the Lions in both baseball and football.

One of the only sophomores from that era to letter in three consecutive seasons while winning three straight state titles on the gridiron, Green was a massive part of the LHS football machine as a running back and cornerback. After his prep days were done, he elected to play baseball at Kansas State, first as a walk-on and then on scholarship for his final three seasons.

He never thought then that coaching would be in his future. But once he stepped into the role, he said he never could see himself doing anything else.

“I don’t think I ever thought of myself becoming a coach just because I loved playing so much,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed going to a field and team competition. It was just a natural fit.”

His first coaching gig was with former Free State football coach Bob Lisher in the fall of 2000. He also spent a few seasons coaching baseball at Free State, starting in the spring of 2001, until he left Free State to join his good buddy Brad Stoll’s baseball staff at Lawrence High in 2005. He’s been there ever since. And their partnership has led to great days for the Lions and even better days for the two friends.

“I get to go to work every day with my best friend,” Stoll said Friday. “He never takes a play, an inning or a practice off. It is nonstop energy and nonstop passion. Plus, he just loves Lawrence High and he loves kids. He has a passion for helping kids. He makes people better just because of who he is.”

Added outgoing LHS senior Truman Juelsgaard, who played in Wednesday’s all-star game where Green was honored: “Coach Green shows up every day ready to work and doesn’t complain about one thing. He wants to make everyone he talks to a better player and a better human. He’s the true definition of a Chesty Lion. He showed me what it means to be a Chesty Lion. And it was awesome to see that he won that award because he truly deserves it.”

Anyone who’s ever seen Green on the sideline at football games knows him for his intensity. Anyone who’s ever visited an LHS baseball or football practice knows him for his enthusiasm. The combination of the two, among other traits that make him a favorite among LHS athletes and coworkers, has been bringing the best out of dozens of Lawrence athletes for the past two decades.

According to former LHS football coach Dirk Wedd, who was in Manhattan on Wednesday, Green has always had the type of personality that people gravitate toward and tend to follow.

“I always thought he’d be a great coach,” said Wedd, who coached Green as a player at LHS and then hired him to serve on his coaching staff in 2005. “He’s a unique kid. The same qualities he had on the field as far as great leadership and unbelievable work ethic, those things carried over into his coaching.”

Both Stoll and Wedd marveled at Green’s energy. Even on his bad days, they said, he often operates as the most upbeat and energetic person on the field.

“And he just started drinking coffee two or three years ago,” Stoll joked.

Because he always had such a high standard for himself as a player, and because his coaches pushed him so hard during his playing days, Green said he always wanted to make sure he passes on that same expectation to the younger generations he coaches today.

Stoll shared a recent story to illustrate that philosophy.

On the day Stoll received a phone call from McPherson to let him know that Green had won the award, the man in charge of the selection said he had seen Green on a baseball diamond working with middle infielders at 7:30 a.m. in the rain that morning.

“He said, ‘I understood what you mean after seeing that,'” said Stoll, who nominated Green for the award. “He’s one of the greatest athletes to come through Lawrence High and you’d never know it. You’re not going to find anybody who has a single bad thing to say about Adam Green.”

photo by: Nick Krug

Lawrence High assistant coach Adam Green gives his team some words of encouragement in the third inning against Shawnee Mission West during the first round of the 6A state championships at Hoglund Ballpark on Friday, May 27, 2011.