RAYE OF LIGHT: New chapters examine impact of 1966 Game of Century on 60th anniversary
Order link:
Raye of Light: Jimmy Raye, The Integration of College Football 3rd Ed – August Publications
AUGUST PUBLICATIONS
What You Need to Know:
Raye of Light, Third Edition
— Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, The Integration of College Football, and the 1965-66
Michigan State Spartans
— New chapters and updated chapters to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the 1966 Game of
the Century
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When Jimmy Raye enrolled at Michigan State University in 1964, he did more than just enter
a university hundreds of miles from his native Fayetteville, North Carolina: he was part of a
movement that changed college football forever.
Award-winning author Tom Shanahan updates his groundbreaking biography of the racial pioneer and the continuing impact of the integration of college football. Raye’s story, as well as his Spartan teammates and coach Duffy Daugherty, is told in Raye of Light: Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, The Integration of College Football, and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans.
Jimmy Raye likely would have never had the opportunity to launch
his coaching career at Michigan State if not for the so-called “Under
ground Railroad” that marked the legacy of the late coach Duffy
Daugherty.” —Jarrett Bell, USA Today
History has not accorded Daugherty, Raye, and the Spartans proper credit for their roles in the integration of college football. Too many view Daugherty as
recruiting a couple of All-American players from the South, winning a bunch of games with his
1965-66 teams and then having it all come to an end.
But that ignores the history made by Raye and the Spartans. In his junior season in 1966, Raye
was Michigan State’s first Black starting quarterback and the first Black quarterback from the
South to win a national title. The Michigan State team with a progressive head coach, a pioneer
Black quarterback, and the first fully integrated roster in college football is the subject of this
engrossing book by award-winning author Tom Shanahan.
In Raye of Light, Shanahan tells the story of how Daugherty integrated his Spartan teams in a
time when leading college programs like the University of Alabama were still segregated, when
it was unusual to see Black athletes at skill positions like quarterback, and when choices for
outstanding Southern Black athletes were either traditionally Black colleges or northern colleges
opening their doors to nationwide recruits.
This updated third edition covers the aftermath of the 1966 Game of the Century between the
Spartans and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, including the coaches and players with ties to both
the 1966 game and the 2026 resumption of the MSU-ND rivalry. Also remembered are the late
Underground Railway pioneers who faced racial prejudice throughout their long careers, denied
chances at the upper levels of the coaching echelon.
PREORDERS
Preorders for the paperback edition are on sale exclusively through the August Publications
(augustpublications.com) website, with the first preorder shipments (complete with free
shipping) expected the week of July 7. Preorders will be offered shortly on Amazon and Ingram,
followed by a wider paperback/ebook release on July 21.
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Learn more about the true stories of college football integration from my podcasts found on my website as well as Spotify.
Milestone Minutes:
The End Game:
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30-
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.
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 that earned first place for Enterprise from the Football Writers Association of American.
— 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
Tags: Chapel Hill, Duffy Daugherty, Durham, Holiday Inn, Michigan State, North Carolina
