November 13, 2025 • 7 mins
Join us on Daily Sports History as we take a look at Mean Joe Greene's legendary Coca-Cola commercial from 1979. Discover how this heartwarming ad featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers star became a cultural phenomenon, transcending sports and advertising. Learn why this classic commercial is still beloved decades later and how it redefined athlete endorsements.
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Listen now! 👉 DailySportsHistory.com 📲 Follow for more daily sports history insights!Â
Email: dailysportshistory@gmail.com
YouTube: YouTube.com/@dailysportshistory
Twitter: twitter.com/dailysportshis
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On October one, nineteen seventy nine, one of the most
recognizable in best commercials ever created made its television debut,
where the Coca Cola Company made a commercial starring Steelers
Hall of Famer Mean Joe Green, and the commercial that
became known as the Hey Kid Catch became one of
(00:22):
the most recognizable commercials to this day, over forty years later.
We're going to dive into how this commercial came together
today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History.
I'm Ethan Rees, your guide as you daily learn more
(00:43):
about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge. And today's trivia
question to listen out for is what other football player
almost got Mean Joe's role in the commercial. Now, the
Coca Cola Company is one of the best best marketers
there has ever been from any United States company, and
(01:05):
they've been advertising ever since the eighteen hundreds, and arguably
the most impressive thing was Santa Claus as the modern
version of Santa Claus comes from an ad done by
the Coca Cola Company. And they actually first started to
get into sports advertising at the nineteen twenty eight Olympic
Games held in Amsterdam, and they've been a sponsor of
(01:27):
the Olympic Games. Ever since, they've also sponsored the FIFA
World Cup, multiple NASCAR events. At some point they sponsored
all of the four major North American sports leagues, as
well as being a major sponsor of the Premier League
and the Cricket World Cup. And everyone knows what coke is.
You know if you like it, you know if you don't.
(01:48):
So why do they keep advertising? And it's truly to
be top of mind. When you think you want to drink,
you think of coke, even though if you know you
like coke, you're probably gonna get it anyway. They want
them always on your mind. And in nineteen seventy nine
they had an idea for a commercial for a jingle
they had created called Coke and a Smile, and they
(02:08):
wanted to show a battered down football player who wanted
to drink a coke and give a fan the chance,
the chance for him to smile because he got a
coke and give a fan chance a smile because he
helped him. And they searched, actually they asked multiple different
NFL players for this role, and Joe Green actually says
it came down to him and Ray Nichke of the
(02:28):
Green Bay Packers and Joe joked that I think they
went with me because Ray doesn't have any teeth, which
it would have been an interesting commercial if it featured Ray,
if he smiled and you saw just a guy with
just a few teeth left in his mouth, it could
have been a unique experience. So I could see why
they wanted to go that way. But choosing Joe Green
was a unique option as Joe was a dominant football player.
(02:51):
He grew to be six' four and way over two
hundred and seventy five, pounds almost the perfect size for
a defensive. Tackle he went on to play college At North,
texas who actually adopted his name as there as their team's,
monker as they are known as The Mean Green North Texas.
State now it's debated whether they took his name from
him or he took the name from them as. Well
(03:14):
he was there is when they kind of went from
being known as The eagles to be known as The Mean,
Green and with his's name Being, green it kind of
just stuck with him throughout his career and so he
became known As Mean Joe. Green and he was a
fiercely dominant player in the trenches and would play with
a mean style and it fit as he won Four Super,
Bowls Defensive player of The year for two, years was
(03:37):
An All pro eight, times and was inducted into The
Pro Football hall Of. Fame and at this time he
was coming towards the end of his. Career he only
played a few more seasons after, this but it already
made a name for. Himself and so this was a
perfect opportunity For coke as they saw they could show
a softer side as no one would want to go
talk to Mean. Joe he's Mean, joe and so the
(04:00):
commercial itself and we'll play a clip at the end
of this so you can kind of hear, it and
we'll put a link below if you want to go watch.
It chances are you've seen it or seen a parody of,
it as it's been done multiple. Times but what it
Is joe is limping through the tunnel after a football.
Game it looks like he's got his jersey draped over
his shoulder, pads and a kid holding a freshly opened
(04:21):
glass can of coke, says, hey Mean, joe offers to
Mean joe a. Coke joe accepts and takes a dramatic
drink of the. Coke and as the kid walks, away
knowing his coke is, gone you hear hey kid catch
As Mean joe throws his jersey and the kid says,
wow Thanks Mean. Joe and you hear the jingle for
(04:41):
a coke in a smile As Mean joe smiles to the.
Camera it's a very simple. Premise it was actually shot
at a high school stadium In Mount, Vernon New, york
And joe actually says it took several times for them
to get it just right as he was drinking the
coke so much that he was burping every time during the,
Take so it took three days to film this one small. Commercial,
(05:03):
now in making the, commercial no one ever thought this
would be one of the biggest most popular commercials ever.
Created they thought it was a nice, commercial the message was,
good and it was nice to see a softer side
of the Mean Joe. Green and it actually first aired
during AN Abc Monday night football game On october, first
nineteen seventy, nine and most, notably it would get re
(05:25):
aired during the nineteen Eighty Super, bowl where The Pittsburgh
steelers Featuring Mean Joe green beat The La. Rams and
the connection of Having Mean joe in this commercial and
him playing in the game helped lift the status of this,
commercial as it's now known as one of the Top
Super bowl commercials and listed as one of the top
commercials ever, aired and in nineteen eighty it was given
(05:48):
this The Silo award for being The Best commercial in
nineteen seventy, nine and it went on to become so
popular that a made FOR tv movie was made just
based on off this movie made BY nbc in nineteen
eighty one and Starred Mean joe in the movie where
the team actually adopts the little boy and they all
(06:11):
become a father to the, boy learning valuable lessons throughout the.
Movie now throughout the, years it's actually been parodied by
MULTIPLE tv shows and. Movies it was done By Sesame,
Street The Bob Newhart, Show The Simpsons Family. Guy it's
been remade By Coca cola's major, competitors done By shaquille
O'Neil And David, beckham and in two thousand and, Nine
(06:32):
Coca cola remade the commercial With steelers Safety Troy palamalo
in The Mean joe. Role but these are all parodies
and everyone always looks back To Mean joe and what
he did not only for, coke but for the connection
of coke and, football and showing within that little bit
of his smile how he may not be so. Mean
(06:57):
and if you want to learn more about business, history
check out The History factory where they dive into all
different kinds of ways that business has affected our. History
and we'll leave you a link to their podcast in the.
Description and if you enjoyed this, show please leave us
a review wherever you're, listening and if you put in
the comments your name and a topic you'd like us to,
(07:20):
cover we'll get that done just for you and come
back tomorrow for more daily sports. History in the answer
to today's trivia, question what other football player almost got?
Mean joe's role in the, Commercial Ray nichke of The
Green Bay, packers who's known for not having much, teeth
(07:41):
would have been interesting to be part of the campaign
of have a coke And, smile
On October one, nineteen seventy nine, one of the most
recognizable in best commercials ever created made its television debut,
where the Coca Cola Company made a commercial starring Steelers
Hall of Famer Mean Joe Green, and the commercial that
became known as the Hey Kid Catch became one of
(00:22):
the most recognizable commercials to this day, over forty years later.
We're going to dive into how this commercial came together
today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History.
I'm Ethan Rees, your guide as you daily learn more
(00:43):
about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge. And today's trivia
question to listen out for is what other football player
almost got Mean Joe's role in the commercial. Now, the
Coca Cola Company is one of the best best marketers
there has ever been from any United States company, and
(01:05):
they've been advertising ever since the eighteen hundreds, and arguably
the most impressive thing was Santa Claus as the modern
version of Santa Claus comes from an ad done by
the Coca Cola Company. And they actually first started to
get into sports advertising at the nineteen twenty eight Olympic
Games held in Amsterdam, and they've been a sponsor of
(01:27):
the Olympic Games. Ever since, they've also sponsored the FIFA
World Cup, multiple NASCAR events. At some point they sponsored
all of the four major North American sports leagues, as
well as being a major sponsor of the Premier League
and the Cricket World Cup. And everyone knows what coke is.
You know if you like it, you know if you don't.
(01:48):
So why do they keep advertising? And it's truly to
be top of mind. When you think you want to drink,
you think of coke, even though if you know you
like coke, you're probably gonna get it anyway. They want
them always on your mind. And in nineteen seventy nine
they had an idea for a commercial for a jingle
they had created called Coke and a Smile, and they
(02:08):
wanted to show a battered down football player who wanted
to drink a coke and give a fan the chance,
the chance for him to smile because he got a
coke and give a fan chance a smile because he
helped him. And they searched, actually they asked multiple different
NFL players for this role, and Joe Green actually says
it came down to him and Ray Nichke of the
(02:28):
Green Bay Packers and Joe joked that I think they
went with me because Ray doesn't have any teeth, which
it would have been an interesting commercial if it featured Ray,
if he smiled and you saw just a guy with
just a few teeth left in his mouth, it could
have been a unique experience. So I could see why
they wanted to go that way. But choosing Joe Green
was a unique option as Joe was a dominant football player.
(02:51):
He grew to be six' four and way over two
hundred and seventy five, pounds almost the perfect size for
a defensive. Tackle he went on to play college At North,
texas who actually adopted his name as there as their team's,
monker as they are known as The Mean Green North Texas.
State now it's debated whether they took his name from
him or he took the name from them as. Well
(03:14):
he was there is when they kind of went from
being known as The eagles to be known as The Mean,
Green and with his's name Being, green it kind of
just stuck with him throughout his career and so he
became known As Mean Joe. Green and he was a
fiercely dominant player in the trenches and would play with
a mean style and it fit as he won Four Super,
Bowls Defensive player of The year for two, years was
(03:37):
An All pro eight, times and was inducted into The
Pro Football hall Of. Fame and at this time he
was coming towards the end of his. Career he only
played a few more seasons after, this but it already
made a name for. Himself and so this was a
perfect opportunity For coke as they saw they could show
a softer side as no one would want to go
talk to Mean. Joe he's Mean, joe and so the
(04:00):
commercial itself and we'll play a clip at the end
of this so you can kind of hear, it and
we'll put a link below if you want to go watch.
It chances are you've seen it or seen a parody of,
it as it's been done multiple. Times but what it
Is joe is limping through the tunnel after a football.
Game it looks like he's got his jersey draped over
his shoulder, pads and a kid holding a freshly opened
(04:21):
glass can of coke, says, hey Mean, joe offers to
Mean joe a. Coke joe accepts and takes a dramatic
drink of the. Coke and as the kid walks, away
knowing his coke is, gone you hear hey kid catch
As Mean joe throws his jersey and the kid says,
wow Thanks Mean. Joe and you hear the jingle for
(04:41):
a coke in a smile As Mean joe smiles to the.
Camera it's a very simple. Premise it was actually shot
at a high school stadium In Mount, Vernon New, york
And joe actually says it took several times for them
to get it just right as he was drinking the
coke so much that he was burping every time during the,
Take so it took three days to film this one small. Commercial,
(05:03):
now in making the, commercial no one ever thought this
would be one of the biggest most popular commercials ever.
Created they thought it was a nice, commercial the message was,
good and it was nice to see a softer side
of the Mean Joe. Green and it actually first aired
during AN Abc Monday night football game On october, first
nineteen seventy, nine and most, notably it would get re
(05:25):
aired during the nineteen Eighty Super, bowl where The Pittsburgh
steelers Featuring Mean Joe green beat The La. Rams and
the connection of Having Mean joe in this commercial and
him playing in the game helped lift the status of this,
commercial as it's now known as one of the Top
Super bowl commercials and listed as one of the top
commercials ever, aired and in nineteen eighty it was given
(05:48):
this The Silo award for being The Best commercial in
nineteen seventy, nine and it went on to become so
popular that a made FOR tv movie was made just
based on off this movie made BY nbc in nineteen
eighty one and Starred Mean joe in the movie where
the team actually adopts the little boy and they all
(06:11):
become a father to the, boy learning valuable lessons throughout the.
Movie now throughout the, years it's actually been parodied by
MULTIPLE tv shows and. Movies it was done By Sesame,
Street The Bob Newhart, Show The Simpsons Family. Guy it's
been remade By Coca cola's major, competitors done By shaquille
O'Neil And David, beckham and in two thousand and, Nine
(06:32):
Coca cola remade the commercial With steelers Safety Troy palamalo
in The Mean joe. Role but these are all parodies
and everyone always looks back To Mean joe and what
he did not only for, coke but for the connection
of coke and, football and showing within that little bit
of his smile how he may not be so. Mean
(06:57):
and if you want to learn more about business, history
check out The History factory where they dive into all
different kinds of ways that business has affected our. History
and we'll leave you a link to their podcast in the.
Description and if you enjoyed this, show please leave us
a review wherever you're, listening and if you put in
the comments your name and a topic you'd like us to,
(07:20):
cover we'll get that done just for you and come
back tomorrow for more daily sports. History in the answer
to today's trivia, question what other football player almost got?
Mean joe's role in the, Commercial Ray nichke of The
Green Bay, packers who's known for not having much, teeth
(07:41):
would have been interesting to be part of the campaign
of have a coke And, smile
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