Dennis "Danny" Leon Green

Dennis Leon (Danny) Green, 78, of Loudon, Tennessee, left his earthly home to be with the Lord on Saturday, August 29, 2026. After a heart attack on July 29, complications from multiple health issues, and an extended hospitalization finally brought Danny home to his family, he passed away peacefully in his sleep. Danny was born and raised in Sweetwater, Tennessee, always referring to his hometown as “God’s Country”! Danny’s childhood dream was to coach basketball at his alma mater, Sweetwater High School, where he graduated in 1966. Danny played basketball and football at Sweetwater High School from 1962 to 1966. After a year of post-grad basketball at Tennessee Military Institute, he was recruited to play at Walker Junior College in Jasper, Alabama. From there he returned home to finish his college education and basketball career at Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens, Tennessee. While a student at Tennessee Wesleyan, Danny pursued his dream of coaching at his alma mater where Coach King Berrong was coaching both basketball and football. Coach Berrong, being more of a football coach, was willing to allow Danny to volunteer to not only practice his basketball team, but to also coach them during the regular season while he sat as an assistant on the bench. That gift from Coach Berrong not only made Danny’s dream come true, but it started a basketball coaching career that not only led to the school’s only state championship in 1994, but to two state runners-up in 1993 and 1995. Danny was inducted into the Sweetwater High School Hall of Fame in January, 2023, along with his 1994 state championship team. Danny coached at his alma mater from 1983 to 1996 and then again from 2008 to 2011. During his 18 years at Sweetwater High School, he not only coached boys basketball, but he also coached girls basketball, girls softball, golf, cross country, and assisted in baseball and football. During Danny’s 50+ years in coaching, he also coached basketball at Madisonville High School, Loudon High School (assistant to Hugh Watson), Calhoun Elementary School, E. K. Baker Elementary School, Vonore Elementary School (softball), and Hiwassee College, where he coached both girls and boys basketball teams. He ended his basketball coaching career this past season at Oak Ridge High School where he had assisted his son, Aaron, for 16 years. Danny married Faye Bailey in July, 1973. Together they nurtured and supported every single member of every team that Danny ever coached. If you were a member of one of Coach Green’s teams, you were also a lifetime member of his family. Faye and Danny lived their 53 years of marriage on several different basketball courts. Their love of the sport and the members of their teams was the greatest common denominator of their marriage. Danny & Faye raised two wonderful children who shared in their love of basketball. Their first-born, Aaron, was coached at Sweetwater High School from 1991 to 1995 by Danny and was also a member of his 1994 state championship team. Aaron later went on to play basketball at the University of Tennessee. Leah, their daughter, was Danny’s biggest fan and she started playing basketball herself in junior high, high school, and ended her career at Lee University. Danny and Faye have been blessed with four amazing grandchildren by birth and one grandchild by marriage. Kannon Rose Green, a senior at College of Charleston, was their first, then Kutler Redman Green, a junior at Oak Ridge High School, then Raleigh Chance Mizer, a sophomore at Farragut High School, then Dayton Lee Mizer, an 8th grader at Farragut Middle School. Then they were blessed with a precious step-granddaughter, Elle Dugger, who is a 5th grader at Robertson Elementary School. Danny’s final years have been spent watching his grandchildren play sports. Their basketball, volleyball, softball, and baseball teams, both school and travel, have given Danny the greatest enjoyment of his final years. He lived each day waiting on their next game. Danny is preceded in death by his parents, Louis Raymond and Clara Virginia Green, his three brothers, Louis Raymond, Jr., Buddy, and Jackie, and his two sisters, Patsy and Bettye Jo, and his two nephews, Randy and Ricky Moss. He is survived by his wife Faye Bailey Green, his son, Aaron (Laura Lynn), his daughter, Leah Mizer (Brad), and his five grandchildren. Danny is also survived by several nieces and nephews. Like family to Danny with friendships of 50+ years are Steve and Marsha Standridge and their children, Matt (Dana) and family, and Tarah Burchell (Brian) and their family; Linda and Joe White (now deceased) and their children, Erik (now deceased), and Whitney Necessary (Jerod); Liz and Steve Berrong (now deceased) and their children Chris (Melody) and family and Chase; Bob and Sherry Long and their daughters, Tracy Ray (Scotty) and Jeninne Amburgey (Eric), and their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And throughout Danny’s tenure at Sweetwater High School is his greatest supporter, his good-luck charm, flag-bearer, mascot, and manager, Jayson Tallent (and mom Jo). Both sets of Danny’s children’s in-laws have also been very special to him: Dennis and Jane Riden and Bobby and Sarah Mizer. Danny’s Celebration of Life will be Sunday, September 13, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. in the Sweetwater High School gymnasium. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Sweetwater High School Boys and Girls basketball teams. Donations can be made via Venmo @DannyGreenMemorial2026 (Sweetwater Board of Education) or by mailing a personal check, made out to Danny Green Memorial, mailed to Sweetwater High School, 414 South High Street, Sweetwater, TN 37874.

Dennis "Danny" Leon Green

August 2, 1948 - August 29, 2026