Mcdaniel College: Tom Green’s push to become oldest college football player draws attention
At McDaniel College, mcdaniel college student Tom Green is chasing a rare do-over: a chance to play college football after spending decades away from campus life. The 60-year-old Carroll County native is training with the Division III Green Terror while working toward a political science degree and trying to become the oldest college football player in the country. Green, a cancer survivor and first-time college student, is doing it while balancing practice, school, and his wood pallet company.
Tom Green’s daily grind at McDaniel College
On an early morning spring practice at the McDaniel College football field, Green worked through conditioning and light contact drills with teammates far younger than he is. Wearing No. 72, the freshman political science major lined up on the defensive line as a walk-on, with the team’s standard based on full-time enrollment and daily commitment rather than age. Skyler Fultz, McDaniel’s head football coach, said Green’s willingness to show up for cold morning practices says a lot about his dedication, even if he is still catching up after years away from the sport.
Green told WBAL-TV 11 News that he got onto the roster last year, and he is now aiming at a milestone that would place him in the record book. He said he knows the current benchmark is 61, and because he turns 61 in June, he is targeting that mark. The challenge is especially notable because the previous record holder was a kicker, while Green is attempting the feat as a defensive end, a position that demands far more contact.
mcdaniel college and a record chase built on second chances
Green’s path to this point has been unusual even before football entered the picture. He owns a wooden pallet company in Littlestown, Pennsylvania, never went to college before now, and played some semi-pro football in the past. In 2015, he was diagnosed with Stage IV kidney cancer, and he later said he was seriously ill before beating the disease. That recovery helped open the door to a new goal: becoming the oldest person to play college football in America.
His teammates have embraced him as more than a curiosity. Quadeer Smith said Green brings energy to the team, while Jordan Weeden said he has adjusted to having an older teammate and values the life lessons Green shares off the field. Green, in turn, said his classmates have taught him “a lot of new words, ” a reminder that the locker room runs both ways when generations collide at mcdaniel college.
What the record means and what happens next
The current record for the oldest player to appear in any type of college football game is held by Alan Moore, who was 61 when he kicked an extra point for Faulkner University in 2011. Green’s attempt is different in one key way: he is working to earn game action as a defensive lineman, not just as a specialist. That makes the next phase of his story especially uncertain, but also more compelling.
If Green gets onto the field when McDaniel College opens the 2026 season, he would add another chapter to a comeback story already shaped by survival, schoolwork, and early-morning reps. For now, the attention around mcdaniel college is building around a simple question: can Tom Green turn practice into history?
