Fred Greene
Fred Greene is one of the most revered names in the history of Hickory High athletics as one of the key players on the Hornets' only state championship basketball appearance.
He teamed with fellow Mercer County Hall of Famer John Crumbacher to provide a powerful inside attack on the team that lost to Nanticoke in the 1961 Class A (Big School) state title contest. Greene scored a team-high 12 points in the championship game, along with guard Bill Lenzi, but Hickory lost 56-46.
The co-captain of Coach Fran Webster's Mercer County and District 10 championship team that year, he earned third-team All-State honors in a season when he scored a team-high 393 points.
His high single game was against Mercer when he drilled in 26. It was a magical season that saw Hickory knock off powerful Mount Lebanon, the WPIAL champion, 59-41, in the state playoffs en route to the finals. In winning the District 10 crown, the Hornets thumped Erie Tech, 61-40, as Fred led the scoring with 17 markers. The Hornets finished 15-7 his junior year, then capped it off with a stellar 25-2 mark his senior season. Fred was also the to scorer on the team his junior year with 286 points when the team was in the running for the county title until the last regular-season game, a loss to Sharpsville.
His outstanding play continued at the University of Pennsylvania. As a member of the freshman squad at Penn, he averaged 21 points per game. He went on to earn three varsity letters at the school, which was among the elite teams in the East.
He went on to coach Little League baseball and CYO basketball.