Tom Green is practicing with the Division III football team at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland, as the 60-year-old tries to become the oldest college football player of all time. Green, who turns 61 in June, hopes to take the field when McDaniel College opens its 2026 season.
The father of five enrolled at McDaniel College last year to pursue a political science degree, and his pursuit has quickly become more than a campus novelty. He survived a battle with kidney cancer in the 2010s, owns a wood pallet company and once played semi-pro football, a background that makes his return to organized football feel less like a stunt than a late chapter in a long athletic life.
Green’s bid sits against a record book that already has a few age marks in it. Alan Moore was 61 when he kicked an extra point for Faulkner University in 2011, and he remains the oldest player to appear in any type of college football game. Joe Thomas Sr. later became the oldest player to take a snap in a Division I game in 2016, rushing for three yards for South Carolina State against Savannah State.
That is the standard Green has set his sights on, but the path to it is still narrow. He is practicing now, yet the milestone he wants will not come until 2026, and only if he can still suit up when McDaniel College begins its next season in Division III football. For Green, the record is not the point so much as the chance to keep going long enough to reach the field once more.