Eugene Greening, Green Bay Packers super fan known as Mean Gene, the Dancing Machine, died Saturday at age 81.
As his super fan name describes, Greening was known for breaking out in dance around other Packers fans, and even fans of other teams.
"Wherever Gene tailgated, he danced," said fellow super fan and friend Wayne Sargent. "Everyone he came in contact with asked what he was drinking; he didn't drink. Gene was the kindest man you ever met and sincere. Most everyone he met, Gene took the time to meet and greet them."
Greening said in interviews he became a Packers fan during the Lombardi era, watching games on a snowy television screen on his parents farm near New London.
He became Mean Gene in the early 2000s, when his nephews talked him into competing in a Coca Cola marketing contest.'Coca Cola put me in a USA TODAY ad in the newspaper on Super Bowl weekend. 'The Touchdown Elation,' by the Packers Pro Shop, put me in their TV commercial and in their catalog and on the billboard for a year. They put my Coca Cola ad in their showcase in the Packers Hall of Fame section," Greening said in an interview with the Die Hard Packer Fan website.
Mean Gene was the stage name he used when he did the Coca Cola contest. The dancing was part of his performance, "but, when I realized how much it was liked, we did more," he told DHPF.
Greening even had his own bobblehead.
Sargent said Greening did hate the Chicago Bears.
"He used to drag a stuffed bear around on a rope through the parking lot. He was special, but in such a loving way. He had no enemies. Even the Bears fans loved him," Sargent said. "He dedicated most of his off time to American Legion Post 33 in Neenah. He was the organizer of all. The Legion and the Packers was what Gene cared ...
