My open letter to Pat Fitzgerald explaining Duffy’s unappreciated legacy
PHOTO: Michigan State president Kevin Gusckiewicz (L) and athletic director J Batt (R) introduced Pat Fitzgerald as the Spartans’ 27th head coach.
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Visit my homepage: TomShanahan.Report
— Click here for review and purchase link: THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s and here for a purchase link to RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans.
— Watch a three-minute video to learn about our documentary at the fundraising stage, GAME CHANGERS OF THE CENTURY, and the Investment Deck.
— Documentary synopsis: Duffy documentary snynopsis.pdf – Google Drive
— How Duffy Daugherty and the MSU Team Changed College Football History
— My FWAA first-place story on the 1962 Rose Bowl and segregation
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By TOM SHANAHAN
Coach Fitz:
I saw the sublime video of you wearing a Michigan State hockey sweater while engaging student fans Friday night at Munn Ice Arena. You cheered and pounded the glass with enthusiasm befitting a Seinfeld episode.
Bravo!
As Michigan State’s new football coach, however, I hope you’ll soon understand our students, fanbase and players are unaware of reasons — beyond national football championships — that Munn Ice Arena was named for Biggie Munn and the Duffy Daugherty Football Building for Hugh Duffy Daugherty.
The College Football Hall of Fame coaches were the vanguard of integrating the sport. This is misunderstood on our own campus and ignored nationally in college football lore.
First, Munn’s 1954 Rose Bowl and Daugherty’s 1956 Rose Bowl teams were known for an unusually high number of Black players. African Americans noticed and adopted the Spartans. This led to 44 Black players from the South boarding Duffy’s Underground Railroad, 1959 to 1972.
Next, Daugherty formed college football’s first fully integrated teams in the 1960s. In 1962, the Associated Press reported the Spartans’ 17 Black players were the most in major college football history. What the report failed to note was Michigan State stood alone, and each year broke its own records.
At the time, college football’s unwritten quota limited Black players to a half-dozen or so. For example, USC’s 1962 national championship team numbered only five Black players and the 1967 Trojans’ national title roster numbered only seven. Hey, it took effort to keep the numbers that low in populous and diverse Los Angeles.
Daugherty was the first coach to ignore the quota limitations.
Although America’s political clock has been turned back and diversity is again a divisive issue, Duffy stood up with leadership in the turbulent 1960s. Daugherty deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom similar to three progressive college basketball coaches, UCLA’s John Wooden (2003), Tennessee’s Pat Summitt (2012) and North Carolina’s Dean Smith (2013).
MORE ON MICHIGAN STATE’S NEW COACHES
Curiously, Alabama football coach Bear Bryant, a champion of Jim Crow while maintaining segregated rosters another seven years after the campus desegregated in 1963, received the honor posthumously in 1983.
In 1964, Daugherty’s team was the first fully integrated roster to play in the South. The Spartans played in segregated Chapel Hill against North Carolina. Such news was ignored by the sports media of the 1960s, which feared alienating subscribers and advertisers.
Then came the 1966 Game of the Century that drew a record TV audience of 33 million watching Notre Dame and Michigan State on November 19 at Spartan Stadium. The game is remembered as a titanic struggle between unbeatens ranked Nos. 1 and 2, but its historical significance was deeper. The contrast of rosters seen on TV spurred the end of quota limitations nationwide for the remainder of the decade and into the 1970s.
Michigan State’s 1966 roster numbered 20 Black players, 11 Black starters, two Black team captains, College Football Hall of Famers George Webster and Clinton Jones, and the South’s first Black quarterback to win a national title, Jimmy Raye, who was recruited out segregated Fayetteville, N.C.
Notre Dame had one Black player, Alan Page.
Something else that was at work was Duffy Daugherty’s Disciples. His former assistant coaches, upon becoming head coaches, followed Duffy’s blueprint of ignoring quota limitations. The Disciples were Dan Devine (Arizona State, Missouri, Notre Dame), Bob Devaney (Wyoming, Nebraska), Bill Yeoman (Houston) and Sonny Grandelius (Colorado). Three other Disciples were NC State’s Earle Edwards, an MSU assistant alongside Daugherty, and two former Daugherty players, Frank Kush (who succeeded Devine at ASU) and Chuck Fairbanks (Oklahoma).
Coach Fitz, none of this is accepted nationally or properly honored on our campus. At this point, you’re probably scratching your head wondering how Duffy’s fact-backed legacy is lost to history.
Here are two reasons:
— 1) College football lore accepts the mistaken narrative Michigan State, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana are grouped together as Big Ten integration leaders. The reality is Michigan State stands apart. “THIS IS BIG,” a 2019 book the Big Ten commissioned former Chicago Tribune sportswriter Ed Sherman to write, highlights my Duffy research, although the pages haven’t translated to the Big Ten Network.
Minnesota and Illinois, to their credit, featured high profile Black players, but their rosters were limited to a half-dozen so. Minnesota stumbled upon Black southerners Bobby Bell and Carl Eller and Illinois upon Bobby Mitchell. By contrast, Duffy had a network of southern Black high school coaches and White southerners opposed to segregation steering players aboard the Underground Railroad.
Blame past MSU administrations and the Big Ten for failing to understand and celebrate the true story, and the Big Ten Network for leaving Michigan State’s story untold while producing films limited to Minnesota and Indiana players.
— 2) College football lore accepts the fairytale Alabama coach Bear Bryant crafted a secret plan to launch integration centered on the 1970 USC-Alabama game. It’s at the expense of the true 1960s pioneers. The myth was made up two decades after the game was played and regurgitated by sloppy journalism ignoring the timeline of progress throughout the South in the 1960s.
In fact, I’ll debate my research with anybody, anytime, anywhere.
Coach Fitz, I’m here to help. I authored the only two books that tell the full story of college football integration: “RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans” and “THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s.”
Well, I need to amend that statement. Sam Hays, a retired Atlanta Constitution sportswriter, recently released, “JUST FOLLOW ME, James Owens and the Integration of Southeastern Conference Football.”
Hayes’ book tells the in-depth the story of Auburn signing Owens in 1969, and my book features a chapter on Owens and Auburn trailblazing. Auburn signed Owens one year before in-state rival Alabama signed its first Black player. By 1970, Alabama was the seventh of 10 SEC schools to recruit Black players and 33 of 37 major southern programs were integrated. Bryant was at the back of line, not the front.
For some reason, these facts are lost on media members big and small. When I pitched a Jimmy Raye story to Bryant Gumble for his HBO Real Sports Show, Gumble replied in an email his “younger audience wouldn’t understand the story.”
Well, educate them!
I take no joy calling out a media legend, but the story illustrates sports journalism’s collective failure. Show me, don’t tell me, is a writing rule. Curiously, there are couple of Michigan State media graduates who ignorantly believe Bryant led the way and Duffy was an ancillary character. They should have their diplomas recalled.
After all, even American hero Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s legend was challenged. Pulitzer Prize winner David Halberstam wrote the book, “The Coldest Winter, America and the Korean War.” Halberstam detailed MacArthur’s tragic missteps that drew the Chinese across the Yalu River to prolong the war.
By the way, Halberstam, a sports fan who covered the Civil Rights movement early in his career, wrote articles unequivocally stating Bryant was behind the times.
You don’t have to be a Pulitzer Prize winner to understand Bryant belongs in Daugherty’s shadow, but the national media is either too ignorant or too embarrassed to correct what they’ve promoted for 30 years. Others are too young to understand and consider segregation ancient history, not recent.
Sometimes I feel like Sisyphus facing the media defending Mt. Teflon Bryant.
When Hays and I approached (separately) major publishers with our manuscripts, executives were unaware of the transformative Auburn or Michigan State roles. They said they’re only familiar with Bryant, without understanding Bryant’s narrative is a fairytale.
My award-winning documentary team for “Game Changers of the Century” has encountered the same problem raising funds for a film explaining the roles of Daugherty and the true pioneers of the South.
Coach Fitz, maybe you can help. Watch this three-minute video teaser: Game Changers of the Century documentary development – Tom Shanahan Report
College Football Hall of Famer Fred Dryer, also known as “Hunter” for his TV police drama, once explained to me that in the film business to get anything produced, you need a champion.
Curiously, Bryant has many champions regurgitating a false narrative on HBO, Showtime, ESPN and an upcoming Netflix film. Exasperatingly, Duffy doesn’t have a champion.
Well, unfortunately, a misguided one produced Duffy’s story – unsuccessfully, thankfully. Producer James Velisssaris, who was found guilty of financial fraud, produced a film that was based on a book that plagiarized research unique to RAYE OF LIGHT.
Fortunately, the script was so pathetically and laughably off base it will never see the light of day. The script apparently borrowed themes from the 2001 satire book “Erasure,” which was made into 2024 Academy Award nominated movie, “American Fiction.” In American Fiction, Black people are stereotyped as gangsters. The sharp satire fits the theme of the movie. In Black Spartans, Duffy’s Black players drink “jungle juice.” The disgusting attempt at humor falls far short of effective satire.
Coach Fitz, of all your refreshing comments last week that won the Michigan State press conference, the one that most caught my ear – and raised my hopes — was this:
“We will restore tradition.”
I hope that’s a signal Michigan State president Kevin Guskiewicz, who has been learning our history with the help of Clinton Jones (and hopefully my books), has talked to you about our proud but unappreciated history. In Michigan State’s 1964 game at North Carolina, Clint broke off a 42-yard touchdown run in his college debut.
Sorry, this is a long letter, but there is so much ground to cover. I won’t touch all the bases, but here are some dos and don’ts that can help bring you up to speed:
— DO: Ask why there is no statue of Daugherty on our campus representing his game-changing 1966 Game of the Century and his 1965 and 1966 national titles.
— DON’T: Mention to Duffy’s 1965 and 1966 players the historical marker outside Jenison Fieldhouse recognizing the 1963 NCAA Mideast Regional basketball game matching Mississippi State and Loyola Chicago. It’s important moment, but MSU’s connection is merely as the host. That marker, when weighted against a recognition on campus for Daugherty’s teams, is a sore spot with Duffy’s 1965 and 1966 football players.
— DO: Educate Michigan State’s fans that none of Daugherty’s 44 Underground Railroad recruits tells a backstory involving Bryant. Sadly, you might come across Michigan State people in the athletic department who insist Bryant sent Duffy players. They read erroneous stories promoting Bryant’s myth at Duffy’s expense. They fail to understand such a narrative paints Duffy as a passive bystander and Bryant a crusader. It’s the other way around. Bryant didn’t know about Black kids. When Bryant was sued in 1969 by the Alabama Afro American Student Association for failing to recruit Black players on a campus that had been desegregated since 1963, Bryant admitted he was unaware of Black players. The deposition was taken by Civil Rights attorney U.W. Clemon. Bryant didn’t care until the 1970s.
— DON’T: Listen to Charles Davis – the CBS sportscaster and the College Football Hall of Fame ceremony emcee — who said on ESPN in 2019 that Duffy “wasn’t Abraham Lincoln … and only recruited Black players to win games.” Davis, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, The Athletic and other outlets fail to see the twisted logic that touts Bryant as a hero for recruiting Black players in the 1970s “to win games” and labels Duffy a sellout in 1960s.
— DO: Ask Barry Switzer, whose 1970s teams were progressive, about Duffy leading integration. You’ll find this quote from Switzer on Page 1 of THE RIGHT THING TO DO: “Duffy did more for integration than any other coach in college football. He had players from all over the South. There were great Black players in the state of Texas that were passing over Oklahoma to play for Duffy. He had all those players from the Houston area. And Duffy also was the first one to recruit Samoan players.”
— DON’T: Ask former Michigan State coach Nick Saban about Bryant. When Alabama produced a misleading 2021 film crediting Bryant for leading integration with his first two Black players on the 1971 varsity, Saban erroneously said Bryant did things before other coaches “were willing to do so.” That’s patently false. Other southern coaches with less job security than Bryant stuck their necks out first. In addition to the Duffy Disciples in the South (Devine, Yeoman and Edwards), other brave southern coaches desegregating programs included Wake Forest’s Bill Tate, 1964; SMU’s Hayden Fry, 1965; Kentucky’s Charlie Bradshaw, 1966; Tennessee’s Doug Dickey, 1967; and Auburn’s Ralph “Shug” Jordan, 1969.
— DO: Ask Bob Apisa, the first Samoan college football All-American player on the Spartans’ 1965 and 1966 teams, the pride felt among Duffy’s 11 Hawaiian Pipeline players that they were part of Duffy putting Hawaii football on the map. In the 1960s, Duffy launched the wave of Samoan and Polynesian players who now permeate American football coast to coast.
— DON’T: Ask Apisa, Kale Ane, Jim Nicholson and Carter Kamana among Hawaiian Pipeline players still with us about Michigan State coaches abandoning Hawaii as recruiting turf just as the state’s talent pool began to grow. It’s a sore spot for them. Notre Dame 2012 Maxwell Award winner Manti Te’o played at Honolulu Punahou and was coached by Ane. Michigan State didn’t recruit Te’o.
— DO: Wonder how Alabama and USC get away with campus seminars promoting the 1970 USC-Alabama myth as fact, yet Michigan State doesn’t teach its own fact-based history explaining Duffy’s leadership.
— DON’T: Ask former Michigan State quarterback and 10-year NFL veteran Tony Banks when he learned about Jimmy Raye’s ground-breaking history as a Black quarterback and pioneering Black coach hired by Daugherty. It’s not Banks’ fault no one told him such history when Banks was the Spartans’ starter for George Perles in 1994 and Saban in 1995. He didn’t learn it until playing for the Washington Redskins in 2001 when Raye was his offensive coordinator.
— DO: Ask Michigan State media members such as Jack Ebling, Chris Solari, Connor Earegood, Jim Comparoni, Paul Konyndyk, David Harns, Sheri Jones, Joe Rexrode and Squire Lynn Henning about my research explaining Daugherty led the way. Adam Gold of WRAL in Raleigh, N.C., can do the same. You can also ask ESPN’s Paul Finebaum about the veracity of my stories debunking Bryant myths (he emailed me, “You’ve got it right, my friend.”), although I wish I could become a guest on his show. You can read blurbs endorsing “THE RIGHT THING TO DO” on inside pages from National Sports Media Association Hall of Famer Gary Smith and the late Bill Walton, a social activist and Hall of Fame basketball player.
— DON’T: Ask national media members about college football integration. Sports Illustrated wrote a story with zero attribution Bryant sent Charlie Thornhill, an All-Big Ten linebacker in 1965 and 1966 from Roanoke, Virginia, to Duffy in exchange for Duffy sending Joe Namath to Bryant. Namath (in his book and an HBO documentary) and Bryant (in his book) stated Maryland coach Tom Nugent sent Namath to Bryant. Thornhill’s family says Bryant had nothing to do with Charlie playing for Duffy. But unfortunately, Duffy once made a joke about Thornhill, Namath and Bryant. He didn’t realize people took him seriously. The media sloppily turned a joke into an accepted narrative.
— DO: Have your 2026 team wear “1966 Game of the Century 60th Anniversary” commemorative patches all season to honor the 1966 Game of the Century. That’ll be especially appropriate when the Spartans and Notre Dame play next season at Notre Dame Stadium to honor the 60th anniversary. Ask Tom Izzo for patch advice. Such football uniform patches would take a page from his MSU basketball teams wearing patches, including one that honored the late MSU basketball coach, Gus Ganakas.
— DON’T: Ask me why the MSU campus bookstore doesn’t sell my books (it’s a sore spot), but the Notre Dame campus bookstore has invited me for a return engagement to sign copies of “THE RIGHT THING TO DO” on gameday for MSU-Notre Dame, September 19, 2026. Notre Dame All-American running back Vagas Ferguson and I enjoyed the experience prior to the 2024 game against Miami of Ohio. I know – it’s a headscratcher that Notre Dame welcomes me to sign books with one Notre Dame chapter on Dan Devine and the MSU Bookstore doesn’t sell a book devoted to Duffy and Michigan State.
PHOTO: Vagas Ferguson (R) and me with a Notre Dame fan at the Notre Dame bookstore prior to the 2024 Miami of Ohio-Notre Dame game.
Coach Fitz, I wish you the best of luck, but your Michigan State goals urgently need to be more than winning championships. I’m sorry to put this on you, but as a newcomer, I hope you’ll learn and teach Duffy’s history. Resurrecting Duffy’s full legacy of standing alone is my passion. This is my purpose playing the back nine of my career.
I’ve tried with previous MSU coaches but haven’t gotten them to look past the widely accepted false narratives. I thought Mel Tucker was listening, but his tenure blew up. I hoped Jonathan Smith would listen, but he wasn’t interested in Michigan State’s heritage.
This anecdote is mind boggling: In 2006, College Football Hall of Famer Bubba Smith, Michigan State’s most famous athlete until Earvin “Magic” Johnson came along, was on campus to have his No. 95 jersey retired. Then-MSU coach John L. Smith (2003-2006) was upset about something involving Bubba and banned Bubba from the football building. Yes, Bubba was a character, but John L. had no idea what Bubba meant to Michigan State’s history.
I recently asked North Carolina basketball coach Hubert Davis about the legacy on his campus of the late Tar Heels coach Dean Smith, who led basketball integration in the South. Without mentioning Michigan State’s failure to teach its players and student body Daugherty’s legacy, I asked Davis if he could imagine a school abandoning the history of a courageous coach who changed the face of the game.
“I could not imagine that,” he said. “It won’t happen here.”
We’re 60 years removed from Duffy’s transformative1965 and 1966 teams. Many voices from Duffy’s rosters are gone. The last voices are entering their 80s. The clock is ticking.
If you don’t teach Duffy’s history, his legacy will be lost for good. Duffy Daugherty will unjustly live eternally in the shadow of a Bear Bryant fairytale.
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I invite you to follow me on Twitter @shanny4055
I’ll put my facts on the true pioneers of college football integration versus Bear Bryant fairytales against anybody, anytime, anywhere. Watch here.
Click here for my story on the 1962 Rose Bowl and Segregation and Alabama.
— Tom Shanahan is an award-winning sportswriter with two books on college football integration, “RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans,” and “THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s.” They are the most accurate accounts of college football integration in the 1950s and 1960s. They also debunk myths about the 1970 USC-Alabama game. The false narrative co-opted the stories of the true pioneers who stood up to Jim Crow and the KKK.
— Two children’s books also explain Michigan State College Football Hall of Fame coach Duffy Daugherty’s impact on integration through the Underground Railroad and the Hawaiian Pipeline: “DUFFY’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD” and “HOW DUFFY PUT HAWAII ON AMERICA’S FOOTBALL MAP.”
