Norman M. Green Jr., retired Baptist minister, church leader, and Hall of Fame distance runner, has died at 90

Norman M. Green Jr., 90, formerly of Wayne, retired Baptist minister, longtime church leader, Hall of Fame distance runner, and celebrated USA Track and Field administrator, died Tuesday, May 16, of congestive heart failure at his home at Lima Estates retirement community in Media.

Rev. Green was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1957 and served as director of planning resources for American Baptist National Ministries, now American Baptist Churches USA, in Valley Forge from 1977 until his retirement in 1995. He was a longtime member of the Central Baptist Church in Wayne and served for years as its treasurer, recording clerk, and bookkeeper.

As a distance runner, Rev. Green first developed his stamina by jogging the hills near his home in California as he delivered newspapers as a boy. He went on to set high school records and nearly 40 national and international records in Masters age-group distance races, a dozen of which still stand.

He earned induction into halls of fame by the USATF Masters, Road Runners Club of America, and Piedmont High School. He ran 26 marathons, was a longtime member of the Philadelphia Masters Track and Field Association, and became so fast at one point that he had no one to compete with.

“These days when I run, it’s to set a national record if I don’t own it or to lower my best times,” he told The Inquirer in 1989.

In 2012, the USATF Mid-Atlantic Association dedicated a bench in his honor near the Betzwood Bridge entrance to the Schuylkill River Trail. “He didn’t like to sit around and not do things,” said his daughter, Cindy Scott. “Even after he retired, he was working 70-hour weeks for the church and running organizations.”

Indeed, Rev. Green seemed to be always on the go. He was a field representative for American Baptist National Ministries from 1962 to 1966 and a field director from 1967 to 1977.

He was pastor for a church near Chicago in the early 1960s and earned his doctorate of ministry from what is now the Palmer Theological Seminary in Wayne in 1982. As director of planning resources for American Baptist National Ministries, he contributed to numerous publications, including the Local Church Planning Manual, Key Steps in Local Church Planning, and Churches and Church Membership in the United States 1990.

“He supported issues about the environment and social justice,” his daughter said. “He was clear that God was in his life, and that God loved everybody.”

After a hiatus and feeling the tug of middle age, Rev. Green returned to running in 1981 when he was 49. He regained his old form quickly, competed in four age groups over the next 40 years and was named male athlete of the year four times in each group.

In the 1990s, his son, Russ, invited Rev. Green, then in his 60s, to run with Russ Green’s middle school track team in West Chester. “They stayed with him for a mile and dropped out,” Russ Green said, “but were amazed as he continued [a six-minute] pace for five miles.”

Rev. Green also became an award-winning executive, delegate, and statistician for USATF, the American Running and Fitness Association, and the World Association of Veteran Athletes, known now as World Masters Athletics.

In a tribute, officials at the USATF Mid-Atlantic Association said Rev. Green “will be remembered for his integrity, passion, and dedication to our sport.”

Norman Marstan Green Jr. was born June 27, 1932, in Oakland, Calif. He was undefeated in the mile run for two years at Piedmont High School and set a local record of 4 minutes, 31.6 seconds.

He earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Berkeley, and ran cross-country and track. Religious as a child, he went on to graduate from the Berkeley Baptist Divinity School, now the Berkeley School of Theology, and did postgraduate studies at the University of Chicago.

He first saw Dolores Taylor at a church picnic when they were teenagers, and they married on his 21st birthday in 1953. They had son Russ and daughters Cindy, Sharon, and Deona, and lived in Berwyn, West Brandywine, Wayne, and Media. Deona died earlier.

The son of a certified public accountant, Rev. Green was a numbers person, too, and he taught his children about budgets and spreadsheets when they were young. He kept detailed financial records for the church, compiled thousands of statistics for running groups, and even charted how many miles he had run in particular pairs of shoes.

He read mysteries, enjoyed photography, and took his family backpacking in the High Sierra. Most of all, his son said, Rev. Green was a “great inspiration.”

In addition to his wife and children, Rev. Green is survived by eight grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, a brother, a sister, and other relatives.

A memorial service is to be at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 17, at Central Baptist Church, 106 W. Lancaster Ave., Wayne, Pa. 19087.

Donations in his name may be made to Central Baptist Church, Box 309, Wayne, Pa. 19087.