Longtime Charlotte journalist Ron Green dies at 95

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Ron Green, an award-winning journalist who covered the Masters for 60 consecutive years, has died. He was 95.

Green died Wednesday, according to his son, Ron Green Jr., who posted the news on Facebook.

Green began covering sports as a junior in high school in North Carolina and turned that into a career that spanned six decades and took him to some of the biggest events as a columnist for the Charlotte Observer.

Green’s wife of 68 years, Beth, died in October 2023.

Green began full time with the Charlotte News upon high school graduation. He never attended college. He became sports editor at the Charlotte News until 1984, when he became the sports columnist for the Charlotte Observer until his retirement in 1999.

He covered more than 80 major golf championships, 25 Super Bowls, four Olympics, 26 Final Fours, the US Open in tennis, heavyweight title bouts and countless college and professional football and basketball games.

Green thought NC State‘s run to the 1983 NCAA title with coach Jim Valvano was the most exciting event he ever covered.

“I still remember the first day I walked into a newspaper office — how it smelled, the ink and the paper. Still remember it. Never got over it,” Green once said. “I loved being a newspaperman. I loved the rush, and the crush, of a deadline. And I just never got over feeling good when I saw my byline in the paper.”

Green is a member of the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame, the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, the United States Basketball Writers Hall of Fame and the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame. He received the PGA of America Lifetime Achievement in Journalism award and the Memorial Golf Journalism Award in 2010.

He was the author of four books: “From Tobacco Road to Amen Corner: On Sports and Life” in 1990, “Shouting at Amen Corner” in 1999, “Slow Dancing with Bobby Jones” in 2004 and “A History of Charlotte Country Club” in 2005.