In NBA circles, Kenneth “Apple” Green goes largely unnoticed.
 
The 6'8” 207 pound second round pick was traded twice before putting on a uniform and only suited up for ten games when he joined the New York Knicks.
 
Though his life as a pro was short, there was a time when Green was a revelation.
 
From 1979 through 1981, he was the cornerstone of some of the most successful teams in Broncs basketball history.
 
The Broncs went a combined 39-18 and earned a spot in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) during the 1980-81 season, the Broncs' first and only post-season berth at the NCAA Division I level.
 
During that run they scored a major coup in the college basketball world when, over the course of four days, the Broncs knocked off an eventual national champion and several future hall-of-famers during the 1980 Maui Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii.
 
The tournament was capped by a 66-60 win over the eventual national champion Indiana Hoosiers led by none other than Hall of Famers Isiah Thomas and Bobby Knight, arguably one of the biggest wins in program history.
 
“Pan American was just a better team than we were,” Knight told the media after the game. “They stuck it to us at the very beginning.”
 
And when the second winningest coach in NCAA basketball history says your team was better than his, you know you did something right.
 
Green, later voted the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, led the team with 21 points and nine rebounds, outscoring Thomas by seven points on a night when the Broncs held the future NBA legend in total check.
 
“I don't think our guys were scared of Indiana,” Green told The Monitor. “We see Indiana on TV. But that motivates us to play better. [It] brings out the best in us.”
 
And the Broncs were their best throughout the tournament.
 
They opened the tournament against a Marquette University team featuring current Boston Celtics head coach and future hall of famer Doc Rivers. In a nail-biter, the Broncs held on for a 71-70 win that came down to a free throw from the most unlikely of shooters.
 
With time winding down and the potential for overtime, Marquette looked to intentionally foul and regain possession. Their candidate was Curtis Glasper, a strong player in his own right but who also sported the team's worst free throw shooting percentage.
 
With the game in his grasp, Glasper made the free throw.
 
Against the Hoosiers, the Broncs were able to shut down the usually dominant Thomas by taking away his ability to drive to the net and forcing him to distribute the ball. The Broncs were also able to take advantage of an unusually undisciplined Indiana team. Pan Am made it to the line 27 times compared to the four times Indiana did. And when they got to the line they made it count, finishing the game with a .741 free throw shooting percentage.
 
Though the Broncs lost to host Hawaii University and had to settle for third place in the tournament, they left knowing that their efforts were not left unrewarded.
 
“If we beat Hawaii people say, 'so what,'” Green told The Monitor. “But we beat Indiana and Marquette, and people know about them.”
 
The Broncs finished the season 20-8 and earned a bid to the 1981 NIT, where they lost to eventual NIT champion Tulsa.
 
If there was one negative that could be found among those two seasons it's this: the Broncs missed out on postseason play more than they deserved.
 
During the 1979-80 season, Pan Am went an impressive 5-3 against the 80 teams that made the postseason in either the NIT or NCAA Tournament the season before while going 19-9 overall.
 
Tournament berths or not, the victory over Indiana and the success of those two seasons changed the course of program history and showed that the Broncs can play with anybody. It's a sentiment that the program holds to this day, an identity that is defined by a strong work ethic and a belief that through honest effort, they too can hang with hall of famers.