Images of former Cardinals receiver Roy Green, who will be inducted into the team's Ring of Honor in Week 4 vs. the Rams
A few weeks ago, Roy Green – the one-time Cardinals Pro Bowl wide receiver who now works as part of the broadcast team – was summoned to the club's executive offices, and it gave him pause.
"In my experience, that's always been a bad thing," Green joked.
But only good was to come. Team president Michael Bidwill told Green he was going to be inducted into the Cardinals' Ring of Honor this season, the 16th member of the exclusive club.
"I was overwhelmed," Green said, admitting he cried like a baby. "All these things that had happened throughout the years were flashing before me."
That included memories of his time as a stellar wideout and his early seasons with the Cards as the last
true two-way player in the NFL, working as both a wide receiver and defensive back at the outset of his 12 years with the Cardinals. A rookie out of tiny Henderson State in 1979, "Jet Stream" Green played with the Cardinals through 1990, helping shepherd the franchise's transition from St. Louis to Phoenix.
Green's Ring of Honor ceremony will take place Oct. 2 when the Cardinals host the Los Angeles Rams at University of Phoenix Stadium.
The team will now have put in a Ring of Honor member in three straight seasons, after Kurt Warner was inducted in 2014 and Adrian Wilson went in last year.
Another memory for both Green and Bidwill was the time the two were together on the field –when Green
first got to the league, a teenaged Bidwill was working as a ballboy during training camp.
"That Ring of Honor is a special place and you want to put special players in there," Bidwill said. "You look at Roy's complete body of work, offense, defense … back in the day when we had 45-man roster limits, he was our emergency quarterback and quarterbacked the scout team in practice.
"It was before free agency, when players were with you their whole career … when we grew up, we grew up around Roy Green."
Green was a defensive back in college, but the Cardinals decided to also use him on offense for about a season-and-a-half to take advantage of his speed. In 1981, Green had three interceptions to go with his 33 catches for 708 yards that season, an astounding 21.5 yards a reception. Green was only the eighth player to have three interceptions and 30 catches in an NFL season, and he remains the only one to accomplish the feat since 1950.
Green broke out as a full-time receiver in 1983 with 78 receptions for 1,227 yards and a league-best 14 touchdowns. He followed that up in 1984 with 78 catches for 1,555 yards and 12 touchdowns. His other 1,000-yard season came in the Cardinals' initial year in Arizona, when he had 68 catches for 1,097 yards and seven touchdowns.
Green was also an accomplished kickoff returner early in his career, running one back for a then-record 106 yards for a touchdown as a rookie against Dallas in 1979.
In his 12 seasons with the Cardinals, Green had 522 catches for 8,496 yards and 66 touchdowns. (Green played two final seasons in Philadelphia.)
"That we didn't bring a championship here was my only disappointment in Arizona," Green said. "I love the way the fans received us when we came here. They gave us everything we needed. They were very, very good to me. I love the community. There is no other place I'd rather be.
"This is the place to be right now, for sure."