Basketball
Favorite athlete: Kevin Durant
Favorite team: OKC Thunder
Favorite memory competing in sports: A few years ago playing in New York versus Philly game, I scored the game winning shot with no time on the clock. I was awarded the MVP of the game.
Music on iPod: TYGA
Future plans: Attend college major in history and play basketball
Words to live by: ‘The only person that can stop me is me.’ (that’s on and off the court)
One goal before turning 30: After attending college, I would like the opportunity to play in the NBA.
One thing people don’t know about me: I like studying old history, whether it’s music, wars, or monuments. It’s always been something that attracted my attention.
By Christiaan DeFranco
When Merdic Green, a senior shooting guard at Harry S. Truman High, was a freshman playing varsity, he and his coach didn’t always see eye-to-eye.
“My head coach is really good,” Green said of Truman’s man at the helm, Alan Munford. “We butted heads when I was in ninth grade, but over the years we’ve communicated our feelings and talked. Now we don’t even have to talk at all to communicate. It’s just unspoken. We’re really close and he’s really helped me. He’s been great.”
The feeling is mutual.
“Merdic is a very good kid,” Munford said. “He’s good on the basketball court, good in the classroom, good with the younger kids in the program. He’s the type of kid that every coach wants. He listens. He does everything you ask of him. He has fought through adversity and succeeded. He has a bright future ahead.”
Some of that adversity has involved academics. But Green has dedicated himself to doing well — not just in the sports arena, but otherwise.
“He has a tremendous work ethic off the court,” Munford said. “He has overcome challenges and economics. He’s just a phenomenal kid. He’s always working on his game. It’s been wonderful to coach him.”
Merdic the high-school baller is Merdic Green III. His dad, Merdic Green Jr., who is an assistant coach on the Truman team, has been instrumental in the youngest Green’s success.
“His father is on my coaching staff and he works two full-time jobs to help pay for Merdic to play AAU ball,” Munford said. “He burns at both ends. I don’t know how he does it. He’s a dedicated father. He works at the school as a therapeutic support worker and also as an in-home treatment person at a group home. He busts his tail.”
Truman hasn’t had a tradition of success. Merdic 3 has changed that this year.
The Tigers have won 11 games and have found themselves in the thick of the playoff hunt.
“We’ve had an opportunity to win 12 games,” Munford said. “I never thought we’d be in this situation. Merdic is very different than what the media is used to seeing out of Truman.
“Sometimes what you see are good athletes who aren’t necessarily good people, but he’s both. He’s a diamond in the rough. He’s the ideal student athlete. He’s just a great person and a wonderful man to be around. It’s been amazing to watch him grow.
“He has put our team on his back and carried us,” Munford said.
Green, who hit the 1,000-point plateau and has caught the attention of several Division 2 and 3 colleges, has been Truman’s leading scorer the last two years. As a freshman, he averaged nine points per game. He averaged 10 as a sophomore, and then 19 as a junior and 23 as a senior.
He’s also among the team leaders in rebounds, assists and steals.
Plus, he has worked to make his game more versatile.
“Most of the time, when you tell kids, ‘You need to work on your left hand over the summer,’ kids come back and still have no left hand,” Munford said. “Or, ‘I need you to spread the floor and attack with your left hand,’ they come back and can’t do it. Not with Merdic. Every single year that I’ve given him any direction, he has always come back improved. Now he’s unstoppable.
“If every kid on the team was like him, we’d be the state champion.”
Merdic, who has become one of the most popular kids at Truman, just sees his improvement as part of his job, part of his role on the team and in life
“On the court, I’ve overcome being able to just use one hand and being able to use to, to go left,” he said. “In the classroom, I’ve overcome what teachers said I couldn’t do, and I’ve had a lot of achievements.
“My dad has been a big part of it,” Merdic said. “He tells me what to do and what not to do. And if I’m not feeling what Coach is saying, my dad breaks it down for me and explains it to me and encourages me. He’s a positive influence and our relationship helps me.”
The same way MG3 helps Truman.
