Revving engines. Flashing red and blue lights. Music, dancing, and twirling flags.  A giant, inflatable Edgar, bobbing to the beat.  A cheering hometown crowd in the stands of Claud Hebert Field.  The Dinuba Emperor football team must be getting ready to take the field.

Welcome to the Green Mile! 

The Green Mile is a walk that is done before the Boys’ Varsity Football team runs onto the field. It consists of the football team, motorcycles, cop car sirens, the band playing, the color guard, and the cheer team. 

The Green Mile was started in 2009 by Ryan Phelan, the DHS athletic director at the time.  He has since moved on to become the principal at Kingsburg High School. This walk is meant to pump up not only the crowd but also the football team.  And boy, does it get loud!  Before the football team walks through, as many as two dozen motorcycles line up against the football field’s fence, revving their engines.  On the lawn across from them are several Dinuba Police cars with their sirens and lights going off.  Add to that the DHS marching band playing and crowds of fans cheering and shouting.  It can be hard to hear yourself speak.  It can almost always be heard across town.

Band director, John Domingcil, wrote the music for the Green Mile march, though this tradition has been around since before Mr. Domingcil. The songs are always the same. It’s called “Emperor Drive.” It’s a mixture of “Lose Yourself” by Eminem and “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin, with a little bit of the eighties dance club song, “When I Hear Music” by Debbie Deb thrown in for good measure. 

The Green Mile represents the support of the community coming out to show their school pride, hopefully, for many years to come.