AFCA recognizes Michigan State and Ferris State trailblazer from Virginia
PHOTO: Gideon Smith with the Ferris State football team in 1912. This story is reposted from Jan. 12, 2015. By TOM SHANAHAN A century later, Gideon Smith finally received just recognition from a national organization. Smith broke barriers throughout his life. He was the first Black college football player at two Michigan schools, Ferris State and Michigan State. Later he blazed trails in coaching at what is now known as Hampton University in his then-segregated hometown of Hampton,…