PHOTO: Kentucky honored its four pioneering Black players that dragged the Southeastern Conference into the 20th century with a statue in 2016 of Nate Northington, Greg Page, Wilbur Hackett and Houston Hogg. The statue was crafted by J. Brett Grill of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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Thomas Shanahan | @Thomas-Shanahan-23

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By TOM SHANAHAN

Michigan State athletic director J Batt — by leaving the Spartans for Kentucky — is joining a school that trailed Michigan State’s college football integration leadership but is ahead of the East Lansing school when it comes to honoring brave pioneers.

Kentucky announced on Monday that Batt, hired a year ago by former Michigan State president Kevin Guskiewicz, has been named Kentucky’s new AD. Batt’s departure appeared imminent once Guskiewicz left for Clemson on May 27.

There is symmetry that Batt leaves the Spartans for the Wildcats.

Michigan State, under coach Duffy Daugherty, led college football integration with the first fully integrated rosters with double-digit Black players in the 1960s. Kentucky, under coach Charlie Bradshaw, was the first Southeastern Conference football program to desegregate with two Black freshmen recruits in 1966, Nate Northington and Greg Page.

There also is irony.

Michigan State fails to grasp Daugherty’s deeper story of leading college football integration while winning shares of national championships in the 1965 and 1966 seasons. Daugherty is a singular story, but the school has been content with superficial tales promoted in college football lore that unfairly diminishes Daugherty’s role as “one of the coaches” in the transformative decade.

Where is the statue of Daugherty and is pioneering players on campus?

At Kentucky, there are four statues of the school’s pioneering Black players – Northington and Page in 1966 and Wilbur Hackett and Houston Hogg in 1967. Hackett was the SEC’s first Black team captain in any sports as a junior in 1969. He had planned to ride Daugherty’s Underground Railroad until Kentucky desegregated, and he fulfilled his parents’ wish to stay closer to home.

I tell the story of Kentucky and other schools across the country honoring their pioneers on campus in in Chapters 15 and 22 of “THE RIGHT THING TO DO, the True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s.”

One of the first schools to understand the importance of honoring heroes from the Civil Rights years was Iowa State. At the time, Gene Smith was ISU’s athletic director until he later moved onto other schools and retired as Ohio State’s AD in 2024.

Smith told me this in an interview the week Ohio State played Michigan State at Spartan Stadium in the 2024 season:

“For Duffy, it wasn’t just about winning football games. It was more than that. It was about making sure opportunities were provided. That’s what people need to know about Duffy. I think it’s important Michigan State recognizes him and tells his story that is so important.”

I’ve always found it mystifying non-Michigan State people understand Duffy’s legacy better than Michigan State people, including a half-century of administrations since Duffy retired following the 1972 season. My hope was Guskiewicz and Batt were learning Duffy’s deeper story but now they’re both gone.

As for Kentucky, I’ve posted stories on my website as well as an episode of THE END GAME podcast on the Wildcats’ honoring its pioneers.

Here is a story also reflected in Chapter 22:

Kentucky provides Michigan State with example to follow – Tom Shanahan Report

Here is THE END GAME with Hackett and a teammate, Paul Karem, who was a driving force behind the statue project.

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Visit my homepage: TomShanahan.Report

— Watch a three-minute video to learn about our documentary at the fundraising stage, GAME CHANGERS OF THE CENTURY, and the Investment Deck.

— My chance to tell the true stories of college football integration on The Spiro Avenue Show – Tom Shanahan Report

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.”

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PURCHASE LINKS, non-fiction books

— RAYE OF LIGHT, August Publications or on Amazon.

— THE RIGHT THING TO DO, August Publications or on Amazon.

PURCHASE LINKS, children’s books

— DUFFY’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD: Order from Barnes and Noble here and Amazon here. 

— HOW DUFFY PUT HAWAII ON AMERICA’S FOOTBALL MAP. Order here:

How Duffy Put Hawaii On America’s Football Map by Tom Shanahan, Paperback | Barnes & Noble®

Amazon.com: How Duffy Put Hawaii On America’s Football Map eBook : Shanahan, Tom: Kindle Store