PHOTO: The facts show Michigan State’s Duffy Daugherty’s teams led college football integration. Myths and folklore based on a false narrative promulgated by sloppy journalism credit Alabama coach Bear Bryant. Among 40 significant moments, none involved Alabama or the 1970 USC-Alabama game. College football integration was a fait accompli by 1970.

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SCROLL DOWN FOR THE COUNTDOWN LIST

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By TOM SHANAHAN

The milestones marking college football integration’s game-changing period from 1954 to the 1970s smartly overlap the Civil Rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s leadership. For this story, I’ve compiled a top 40 list of moments advancing the ball.

The only way to defeat Jim Crow was steadfast navigation, but the media coverage on the front page and the sports page diverted down separate roads. Consider 1961’s events as just one year of profound examples:

— In the spring, there were bloody attacks on the Freedom Riders traveling through the segregated South. We know all about it. The front page and editorial page archives overflow.

— In the fall, the 1961 Colorado football team and the 1961 UCLA team’s eight Black players threatening to boycott the Orange and Rose Bowls, respectively. We know nil about them. The negligent sports media either ignored the stories or botched its coverage.

In Miami, the Orange Bowl and city of Miami backed down when Colorado captain Joe Romig informed them the Big Eight Conference champions would stay home unless their five Black teammates were granted the same hotel and restaurant accommodations. An oral history decades later has been the only way to tell the story, which is found in Chapter 6 of my book, “THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s.”

In Los Angeles, the Rose Bowl backed down after Los Angeles Times’ sports columnist Jim Murray — the only reporter to cover the issue –exposed Alabama coach Bear Bryant’s backroom maneuvering that prompted the boycott threat. Although Murray confronted Bryant with his plan to gain a bid to the Rose Bowl over the traditional Big Ten representative, the sports media’s spotty coverage allowed revisionist history to turn the table. Murray has been blamed for costing Bryant a chance to coach in the Rose Bowl. The full story is told in Chapter 25 of “THE RIGHT THING TO DO.”

However, the media’s failure to report a national narrative didn’t prevent football dominos from continuing to tumble silently one upon another.

They included Maryland’s Darryl Hill and Wake Forest’s Bob Grant and Butch Henry in the Atlantic Coast Conference, in 1964; Houston’s Warren McVea, 1964; Kentucky’s Nate Northington and Greg Page in the Southeastern Conference, 1966; Army West Point’s Gary Steele, 1966; Tennessee’s Lester McClain, 1967; Tennessee’s Jackie Walker, 1969; and in the Deep South, Auburn’s James Owens and Georgia Tech’s Eddie McAshan, in 1969.

There is the old philosophy question of, “If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? The answer, based on the diversified college rosters to open the 1970 season, is yes.

College football integration was a fait accompli by 1970.

By then, 33 of 37 major southern programs included their Black players. Although Alabama trailed its southern peers as the seventh of 10 SEC programs to recruit its first Black player, even Bryant lifted his dragging feet and to get his program on onboard by 1970.

Another media negligence was failing to understand college football integration progress wasn’t limited to liberating the Jim Crow South.

Outside the Mason Dixon Line, an unwritten quota limiting Black athletes to a half-dozen or so existed. The roster of schools included USC’s national championship teams in in 1962 with only five Black players and 1967 (seven) and Notre Dame’s title roster in 1966 (one).

The initial forward-thinking coach to ignore the quota limitations was Michigan State’s Duffy Daugherty. The College Football Hall of Famer assembled the first fully integrated rosters in 1960s while knocking down barriers throughout the decade.1960s.

But his influence extends beyond Michigan State. His coaches on his first staff in 1954 included Dan Devine, Bob Devaney, Bill Yeoman and Sonny Grandelius. Upon becoming a head coach, they all recruited more Black players than they inherited.

But of all Daugherty’s teams, his Spartans’ 1966 season represented a seminal moment.

Television helped transmit Daugherty’s meritocracy message. A record audience of 33 million tuned in to watch the 1966 Game of the Century matching Notre Dame and Michigan State on November 19 at Spartan Stadium. In living color, the nation saw Michigan State line up 20 Black players and Notre Dame one.

PHOTO: Michigan State coach Duffy Daugherty with his five two-time All-American picks from the 1965 and 1966 seasons (L-R): Clinton Jones, Bob Apisa, Bubba Smith, Gene Washington and George Webster.

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USC, Notre Dame and other schools abandoned the quota limitations following Daugherty’s lead. No single step stands out of as college football integration’s starting point, but none of the milestones include the 1970 USC-Alabama game’s folklore claiming that Bryant orchestrated events behind the scenes to launch integration.

There is disturbing irony to casting Bryant as a crusader. He trailed as the seventh of 10 SEC coaches to integrate. He was one year behind his own in-state and SEC rival, Auburn coach Shug Jordan. Nevertheless, the popular Bryant-USC misconception worked its way into the national folklore with the aid of poorly researched sports writing.

The sloppy sports writing includes the modern media regurgitating the myth without understanding USC started only four Black players in the Alabama game. The Trojans were still shedding their quota limitation years in the last 1960s, and it took time grow the numbers.

USC didn’t reach double figures until it brought in 11 Black players as transfers that arrived in 1969 and 1970 – nine from junior colleges, two from four-year schools. However, the 1969 and 1970 transfers aren’t cited in articles, books and films about the 1970 game by ESPN, HBO and Showtime.

There are other moments that don’t make the list because they didn’t spur change. USC’s C.R. Roberts is known for rushing for 251 yards at Texas and Willie Wood for playing quarterback in 1959, but USC continued to limit Black players on its roster to until double digits in the 1970 season.

The following is my countdown list of 40 top moments in college football integration from the mid-1950s to the 1970s. It starts with the seminal 1966 Game of the Century and continues chronologically.

— 1) The Game of the Century: Notre Dame at Michigan State, November 19, 1966, at Spartan Stadium.

The 1966 Game of the Century iteration of the so-called showdowns was the first to include Black players and first with one team fielding a fully integrated roster.

Of the Spartans’ 20 Black players, 11 were starters, two team captains, College Football Hall of Famers George Webster and Clinton Jones, and one was the South’s first Black quarterback to win a national title, Jimmy Raye of segregated Fayetteville, N.C. Notre Dame’s one Black player was Alan Page, and later years with the Minnesota Vikings, he told Jones, a Minnesota teammate, he wanted to attend Michigan State, but his parents wanted him to attend Notre Dame.

 A record TV audience of 33 million watched the teams play to a 10-10 tie. The National Football Foundation – one of four organization sanctioned by the NCAA in the poll era to name a national champion – declared Notre Dame and Michigan State co-champions for the tie on the field and their identical 9-0-1 records. The other three ranked Notre Dame No. 1 and Michigan State No. 2.

— 2) 1954: Duffy’s transformative coaching tree

Daugherty first staff included Dan Devine, Bob Devaney, Bill Yeoman and Sonny Grandelius. All four abandoned the quota limitations upon becoming a head coach: Devine (Arizona State, Missouri, Notre Dame), Devaney (Wyoming, Nebraska) and Yeoman (desegregated Houston). Three others on Daugherty’s coaching tree who followed his blueprint were Frank Kush (succeeded Devine at ASU); Chuck Fairbanks (Oklahoma); and Earle Edwards (desegregated NC State). Devine, Devaney and Yeoman are in the College Football Hall of Fame.

— 3) 1954 and 1956 Rose Bowls: Michigan State’s new fans.

Michigan State earned a following among Black fans through the success of Black stars seen on TV in the Spartans’ 1954 and 1956 Rose Bowl victories. Leroy Bolden and Ellis Duckett scored in 1954, and Clarence Peaks and John Lewis scored in 1956. JET Magazine reported the combined 13 Black players in the 1956 game was the most in Rose Bowl history. Michigan State numbered seven and UCLA six.

— 4) 1955 and 1956: Iowa’s Calvin Jones and Ohio State’s Jim Parker win Outland Trophy.

The first Black Outland Trophy winner was Calvin Jones at Iowa in 1955, and Ohio State’s Jim Parker made it back-to-back Black Outland winners when he earned the prize in 1956. Why weren’t Black players better known after such a leap in progress? The media ignored race and media photography film was primitive compared to now. To most fans, Jones and Parker were nothing more than names they read in black-and-white print.

Both players are in the College Football Hall of Fame. Jones was from Steubenville, Ohio, and Parker from Toledo, Ohio.

— 5) 1956: Dan Devine backed down Jim Crow in Texas

Devine’s second team at Arizona State was 4-0 as it traveled to segregated Abilene, Texas, to play Hardin-Simmons in a Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association game. When Devine learned hotels in Abilene didn’t accept Black players, he threatened to take his team home without playing the game. The hotel housing the Sun Devils backed down.

ASU’s leading rusher was halfback Leon Burton, an African American from Flint, Michigan. The Sun Devils improved to 5-0 with the 26-13 victory.

— 6) 1958: Devine and Missouri break from former Confederate states

Missouri was the last school in the Big Seven Conference to integrate its football program, but the transition made it the first from a former Confederate state to do so. Running backs Norris Stevenson and Mel West were stars for Devine, who arrived at Missouri from Arizona State. Although Maryland’s Darryl Hill has been credited as the first Black player in the South, he didn’t play until 1963. In addition, Maryland wasn’t a former Confederate state despite being a slave state.

— 7) 1959-1972: Michigan State’s Underground Railroad.

Among Michigan State’s new Black fans from the televised 1954 and 1956 Rose Bowls were southern high school coaches and principals. They contacted Daugherty about their players. The first Underground Railroad passenger was Clifton Roaf of Pine Buff, Arkansas, in 1959. The 1963 class included three future College Football Hall of Famers who were keys to the Spartans’ 1965 and 1966 national title teams: Bubba Smith, Beaumont, Texas; Gene Washington, La Porte, Texas; and George Webster, Anderson, S.C. The final Underground Railroad class in 1972 included Tyrone Willingham of Jacksonville, N.C. He went on to become a pioneer Black head coach at Stanford, Notre Dame and Washington. In all, Duffy’s Underground Railroad numbered 44 passengers with a 68-percent graduation rate.

— 8) 1960 and 1961: Minnesota’s Sandy Stephens first Black quarterback to win national title and Rose Bowl.

Stephens, who was from Uniontown, Pennsylvania, led Minnesota to the 1960 national title as voted by the Associated Press, United Press International and the National Football Foundation. The Football Writers Association named Ole Miss.

Oddly enough, although Stephens played in the Rose Bowl played on January 2, 1961, he didn’t earn his distinction as the first Black quarterback to win a Rose Bowl until Pasadena’s 1962 game. In those days, the polls voted their national champion at the end of the regular season. Therefore, Minnesota was voted No. 1 at the end of the 1960 regular season and remained national champion despite a 17-7 loss to No. 6 Washington in the 1961 Rose Bowl. A year later, No. 6 Minnesota defeated No. 16 UCLA in the Rose Bowl played on January 1, 1962.

— 9) 1961: Syracuse’s Ernie Davis first Black Heisman Trophy winner.

President John F. Kennedy placed his imprimatur on Davis as the first Black Heisman winner when they met and posed for photos at New York’s Waldorf Astoria. Kennedy was in New York to speak to at the National Association of Manufacturers at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. According to Ken O’Donnell, JFK’s appointments secretary, when Kennedy learned Davis was in New York the same day to receive his Heisman, Kennedy adjusted his schedule by a couple hours so there was time to meet with Davis at the Waldorf Astoria before JFK left New York that day. The date was December 6, 1961.

PHOTO: Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis meets President John F. Kennedy, who loved college football, at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.

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— 10) 1961 season: UCLA threatened boycott of 1962 Rose Bowl

UCLA’s Black players threatened to boycott the Rose Bowl scheduled for January 1, 1962, if Alabama coach Bear Bryant successfully maneuvered a backdoor entry for his segregated roster to replace the Big Ten representative. Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray exposed Bryant’s plan and confronted him on behalf of the UCLA players. Bryant told Murray, “Oh, I would have nothing to say about that. Neither will the university, I’m sure.”

The Rose Bowl backed down.

— 11) 1961 season, Colorado threatens to boycott 1962 Orange Bowl.

Colorado’s players threatened to boycott the Orange Bowl, set for January 1, 1962, unless the Buffaloes five Black players were permitted to stay in the same hotel and eat in the same restaurants. Team captain Joe Romig said, “We’re going as a team or we’re not going at all.”

The Orange Bowl backed down.

The 1960s sports media failed to report on the two boycott threats, but their stands, covertly or overtly, were established within the bowl communities.

— 12) 1962 and 1963: First Underground Railroad passenger with post-season honors.

Michigan State halfback Sherman Lewis, who grew up in the same segregated community of Louisville, Kentucky as Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay), was the first player representing Duffy Daugherty’s Underground Railroad to earn post-season honors. He was All-Big Ten as a junior in 1962 and an All-American as a senior in 1963. He finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting to Navy quarterback Roger Staubach. Daugherty later hired Lewis in 1969 as one of the pioneering Black coaches in college football. Lewis when on to the NFL to win four Super Bowl rings — three as an assistant with the San Francisco 49ers and one as the Green Bacy Packers’ offensive coordinator.

— 13) 1963: Maryland breaks Atlantic Coast Conference color line.

Darryl Hill was the first Black player in the ACC in 1963, but his impact didn’t span the time other pioneers established at other ACC and southern schools. Hill, a senior transfer from Navy, played only one year and Maryland didn’t continue to recruit Black players until later in the decade.

— 14) 1964: Wake Forest breaks barrier in Atlantic Coast Conference

Wake Forest and Houston signed their first Black players in 1964, but they differed from Maryland when they committed to recruiting Black talent throughout the decade.

Wake Forest, an ACC member, was the first school from a major southern conference to sign Black players out of high school. Head coach Bill Tate signed three in 1964, Bob Grant, Butch Henry and William Smith.

— 15) 1964: Houston breaks barriers in Texas.

Houston, an independent at the time, was the first major program in Texas to desegregate. Head coach Bill Yeoman signed Warren McVea.

— 16) 1964: Michigan State First fully integrated team to play in the South.

Michigan State’s 1964 team was the first fully integrated roster play in the South when the Spartans played North Carolina at Kenan Stadium in segregated Chapel Hill. College Football Hall of Famer Clinton Jones’ 42-yard touchdown run marked the first time a Black player scored at Kenan Stadium.

— 17) 1965: Southern Methodist’s Jerry LeVias first Black scholarship recruit in the Southwest Conference.

LeVias signed as a freshman and added to his ground-breaking list as the first Black player in the Southwest. His “firsts” didn’t stop there. He was the first to earn All-SWC hoors (1966, 1967, 1968) and All-American (1968) recognition. LeVias also was the first Black player to score in Auburn’s Hare Stadium (now Jordan-Hare) when SMU beat Auburn, in 1968. LeVias caught a touchdown pass and two-point conversion in the 37-28 victory.

— 18) 1965 and 1966, Jimmy Raye, South’s first Black quarterback to win a national title.

Raye played frequently in a sophomore backup role to All-American senior Steve Juday on the 1965 team that shared the national title and took over as the starter on the 1966 team that was named co-national champion by the National Football Foundation.

Raye was first inspired to believe he could escape segregation in Fayetteville, N.C., to play Big Ten football after he saw Sandy Stephens in the Rose Bowl. Until then, he didn’t know Stephens was Black.

— 19) 1965-66: Michigan State’s Bob Apisa first Samoan All-American pick.

Apisa, a fullback, was born in American Samoa and recruited out of Farrington High in Honolulu. He was the one of Duffy Daugherty’s 10 Hawaiian Pipeline recruits to play for the Spartans from 1955 through 1974. Polynesian athletes gradually permeated American football at all levels.

— 20) 1965-66: Michigan State fields the first all-minority backfields at a major school.

In 1966, the starters were quarterback Jimmy Raye (Black), halfbacks Clinton Jones (Black) and Dwight Lee (Black) and fullback Bob Apisa (Samoan). In 1965, when Raye subbed in for starter Steve Juday (White), behind Raye were the halfbacks Jones and Lee and at fullback either Apisa or Eddie Cotton (Black).

— 21) 1966, Army West Point receiver Gary Steele is the academy’s first Black football letterman. When Army played at Notre Dame on October 8, Steele and Notre Dame’s Alan Page were the only Black players on the field.

— 22) 1966: First two Black players in the Southeastern Conference.

Kentucky signed Nate Northington and Greg Page to their 1966 recruiting class as the SEC’s groundbreakers. Northington was the first SEC Black player in a varsity game in 1967, but Page tragically died from neck injury he suffered in fall camp practice. A year later, Kentucky signed two more pioneers, Wilburt Hackett and Houston Hogg.

— 23) 1966 and 1968: First two games with Black players taking the field in an Alabama stadium.

In 1966, Auburn coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan intervened on the behalf of Wake Forest’s recently integrated roster. He found a hotel to accommodate the Demon Deacons for the game at Auburn. Wake Forest juniors Bob Grant and Butch Henry were the first Black players at Cliff Hare Stadium on October 8, 1966. This was four years before the 1970 USC-Alabama game, although the national media mistakenly points to the 1970 as the year Black athletes integrated SEC stadiums. In 1968, Southern Methodist was the second integrated team to play at Auburn’s stadium. SMU’s Jerry LeVias caught a touchdown pass and a two-point conversion to lead a 37-28 victory in the season opener, September 21, 1968.

— 24) 1966 and 1968: Bob Grant’s “firsts” in ACC and NFL.

Grant’s All-ACC selection in 1966 was the first for a Black player from a school in a major southern conference. Grant was the first Black player the NFL drafted from a major southern conference school as the Baltimore Colts’ second-round pick, in 1968. McVea was the second as a fourth-round pick by the Kansas City Chiefs. In 2022, the NCAA presented Grant with its “Inspiration Award.”

PHOTO: Wake Forest’s Bob Grant (left) and Houston’s Warren McVea (right) broke ground as Black scholarship recruits from major southern colleges and NFL draft picks from major southern schools.

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— 25) 1967 and 1968: Lester McClain’s SEC “first” at Tennessee.

Tennessee was the second SEC school to integrate when Lester McClain signed with Volunteers, in 1967. A year later McClain was SEC’s first Black player to score. As a sophomore receiver in 1968, he caught six touchdown passes. There is a statue of him outside Neyland Stadium.

— 26) 1967: Tommy Love transforms southern recruiting.

Black athletes from Black schools in the segregated South were off the radar for All-American teams, but Love’s high school in the western North Carolina mountains, Slyva-Webster, desegregated in 1964, earlier that other schools in the state. At the same time, southern schools such as Tennessee and North Carolina committed to desegregation.

So, when Love made the 1966 Parade High School All-American team his recruitment different from previous southern pioneers such as Wake Forest’s Bob Grant and Houston’s Warren McVea. Love had multiple southern schools pursuing him in addition northern coaches. Love ultimately chose Michigan State’s Underground Railroad in the Spartans’ 1967 recruiting class, but it was the first Michigan State coach Duffy Daugherty faced competition from multiple major southern schools.

— 27) 1967: Freddie Summers South’s first starting Black quarterback.

Summers was a two-year starter in 1967 in 1968 that Wake Forest coach Bill Tate recruited out of McCook Junior College in Nebraska.

— 28) 1969: Auburn, Alabama’s in-state rival, signs James Owens as its first Black football player.

Auburn was one year ahead of Alabama signing its first Black player but beyond the groundbreaking moment, the significance includes noting coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan wasn’t fired. Jordan recruiting Owens defied excuse that remain to this day from partisans of Alabama coach Bear Bryant that his hands were tied by Alabama Gov. George Wallace.

— 29) 1969: Bear Bryant sued for failing to recruit Black players

Alabama’s Afro-American Student Association filed a Civil Rights lawsuit on July 2 against Bryant for failing to recruit Black football players. Alabama’s campus had been desegregated since 1963 and Alabama basketball coach C.M. Newton signed Wendell Hudson for the 1969-70 school year.

— 30) 1969: Tennessee routs Alabama at Legion Field in Birmingham.

Tennessee was in its third year as an integrated program when the Volunteers routed Alabama 41-14 on October 18 before 72,443 fans at Legion Field. Jackie Walker, a sophomore Black linebacker, returned an touchdown interception for a 21-0 lead in the first quarter.

Tennessee’s romp enroute to the SEC title defied the myth Alabama coach Bear Bryant scheduled USC as a game to lose to open the 1970 season at Legion Field. The myth claims Bryant wanted a loss to shock his bigoted fanbase into allowing him to recruit Black players. With the 1969 loss to Tennessee, there was nothing shocking about USC’s 42-21 lead. Also, Bryant had signed Matthews and Jackson nine months before USC arrived.

PHOTO: Tennessee’s Jackie Walker, the first Black All-American football player in the Southeastern Conference, led a rout of Alabama at Legion Field in Birmingham one year before USC arrived.

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— 31) 1969: Jackie Walker SEC’s first All-American football player

Walker made his varsity debut as a sophomore in 1969 and earned All-American honors the first time as a junior in 1970. He repeated as a senior in 1971. His senior year he also was the Tennessee football’s first Black team captain and the second in the SEC.

–— 32) 1969, Bear Bryant signs his first two Black recruits on December 13 when Bo Matthews and Wilbur Jackson sign Southeastern Conference letters of intent. The July 1969 lawsuit went away with their commitments, although only Jackson played at Alabama. Matthews played at Colorado.

— 33) 1969: Colorado’s racial statement against Alabama in 1969 Liberty Bowl.

Colorado’s tri-captains for the 1969 Liberty Bowl were two White players, Bobby Anderson and Mike Pruitt, and a Black player, Bill Collins. When the captains walked to midfield for the traditional coin flip, they noticed Alabama’s all-White roster sent 40 players. Anderson and Pruitt decided to make a statement of support for their Black teammates. They stopped at the hashmark and told Collins to step forward alone to represent the team.

Colorado beat Alabama 47-33 two months after Tennessee’s rolled up 41 points against Alabama. By the time USC beat Alabama 42-21 in the 1970 season opener, a third straight integrated opponent scoring 40-plus points defies the myth Bryant scheduled USC as a game to lose to shock his bigoted fanbase into allowing him to recruit Black players.

— 34) 1970: College football integration a fait accompli with 1970 season openers.

On September 12, Stanford was one of two Pac-8 integrated teams to open the season with a win at a venerable southern stadium.

Stanford, with an all-minority backfield, upset No. 4-ranked Arkansas at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Stanford-Arkansas was the ABC-TV national game of the week as Stanford senior fullback Hillary Shockley, an African American, led the way with 149 total yards and three touchdowns

The other Pac-8 team was USC, which defeated Alabama at Legion Field in Birmingham. USC fullback Sam Cunningham, an African American, ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns in a game limited to their teams’ radio networks.

— 35) 1970: Deep South’s first Black starting quarterback.

Georgia Tech’s Eddie McAshanm was the Deep South’s first Black starting quarterback when the Yellow Jackets playied integrated South Carolina on September 12, 1970, the same day as the Stanford-Arkansas and USC-Alabama games. McAshan led the unranked Yellow Jackets to a 23-20 victory against No. 17-ranked South Carolina. McAshan was a sophomore making his varsity debut when he led the unranked Yellow Jackets to a 23-20 upset of No. 17 South Carolina at Grant Field. Georgia Tech’s Bud Carson recruited McAshan and South Carolina coach Paul Dietzel recruited Carlton Haywood in their 1969 recruiting classes.

— 36) 1970: Wilbur Hackett SEC’s first Black football team captain.

Hackett, a three-year letterman who signed in 1967 along with Houston Hogg, was named Kentucky’s team captain as a senior for the 1970 season. Hackett and Hogg were Kentucky’s second straight class of Black football recruits after Nate Northington and Greg Page. A statue of the four players stands outside Kentucky’s stadium, Kroger Field.

— 37) 1971 Game of the Century first with two fully integrated rosters.

Duffy Daugherty’s fingerprints were on the 1966 Game of the Century as the Spartans’ head coach and on the 1971 Game of through his coaching tree. Nebraska head coach Bob Devaney was a Daugherty assistant and Oklahoma head coach Chuck Fairbanks played for Daugherty.

— 38) 1969 and 1972: Duffy Daugherty launches pioneering Black coaching careers.

Daugherty hired Sherman Lewis as an assistant coach in 1969 and added Jimmy Raye in 1972. His 1972 staff, his final one upon retirement, numbered two Black assistants at a time many schools were hiring their first Black coach.

Lewis and Raye went on to pioneering college and NFL coaching careers. Raye was the second Black coordinator in the NFL when the Los Angeles Rams hired him in 1983. Lewis earned a Super Bowl ring as a Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator, in 1997.

In 2022, the Pro Football Hall of Fame honored Raye’s career as an assistant coach among its inaugural class for the NFL Awards of Excellence. In 2023, Lewis was in the Hall’s second class of NFL Awards of Excellence recipients.

— 39) 1972: The South’s first two Black quarterbacks face each other.

In the 1972 season opener, Tennessee sophomore quarterback Condredge Holloway and Georgia Tech senior quarterback Eddie McAshan were the South’s first two Black starting quarterbacks to face each other. Tennessee won 34-13.

Ironically, two weeks later McAshan led Georgia Tech to win at Spartan Stadium, where the school had broken barriers with Black quarterbacks dating to Willie Thrower (1950-52), who was the NFL’s first Black quarterback with the Chicago Bears in 1953. Watching the game as a redshirt freshman transfer was Charlie Baggett, a Black quarterback who sat out the year as a transfer before he was the Spartans’ three-year starter, 1973-75.

PHOTO: Jimmy Raye was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s inaugural class of NFL Awards of Excellence in 2021 for his long career in coaching. Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Fouts was the emcee.

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— 40) 2015: First school with four Black players from same class named to College Football Hall of Fame

When Clinton Jones was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 2015, he joined Michigan State teammates George Webster (1987), Bubba Smith (1988) and Gene Washington (2012). They were varsity teammates 1964-66 and All-Americans on the Spartans’ 1965 and 1966 national title teams. The foursome enshrinement was reflective of Michigan State leading the way with the first fully integrated rosters in the 1960s when other schools followed the unwritten quota of limiting Black players on the roster to a half-dozen or so. That translates to only one or two Black players in a recruiting class. Michigan State’s 1966 team that played Notre Dame in the 1966 Game of the Century listed 20 Black players, 11 Black starters, two Black team captains, Webster and Jones and Jimmy Raye of segregated Fayetteville, N.C., as the South’s first Black quarterback to win a national title. Notre Dame numbered one Black player, Alan Page.

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Tom Shanahan is an award-winning sportswriter and frequent contributor to Spartanmag.com in addition to posting on his website. His new book on Michigan State leading college football integration is, “THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s.” His first book was “RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans.”

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @shanny4055

Below are links to click on to purchase my books focused.

My books tell the true story of college football integration in the 1960s and address the myths and fiction that allowed a false narrative surrounding the 1970 USC-Alabama game to usurp the credit from the true pioneers. As I said when I spoke at the National Sports Media Association book festival, no two books provide an accurate portrayal more than RAYE OF LIGHT and THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

I’ll put my facts up against anybody, anytime, anywhere. Watch here.

Click here for my story on the 1962 Rose Bowl and Segregation awarded first place by the Football Writers Association of America. I tell untold stories on Michigan State’s leading role and the true pioneers of college football integration. Click here to read the summary as a first-place story.

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Click here to purchase The Right Thing To Do

THE RIGHT THING TO DO

The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s

Foreword by Ruffin McNeill

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Click here to purchase Raye of Light.

RAYE OF LIGHT

Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the 1ntegration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans

Foreword by Tony Dungy

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