My Willie Thrower story on Spartanmag.com

Visit my website homepage at TomShanahan.Report Thanks to Spartanmag.com for posting my story on Michigan State's Willie Thrower, the first Black quarterback in the NFL. Thrower was recruited by Michigan State coach Duffy Daugherty -- an assistant under Biggie Munn (1947-53) until he was promoted to head coach, 1954-72. Thrower, in the era before freshmen were eligible for the varsity, played for the Spartans from 1950-52. Click below: Michigan State's Willie Thrower blazed trail for Mahomes and Hurts…

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Damar Hamlin’s collapse showed the NFL failed to learn from Chuck Hughes

PHOTO: The Detroit Free Press front page following the Bears-Lions game played on Oct. 24, 1971, at Tiger Stadium. Visit my website homepage, TomShanahan.Report By TOM SHANAHAN The NFL muddled through plans on what to do next after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field with a heart attack and was rushed to University of Cincinnati Hospital. If the NFL had a plan in place based on a past tragedy in 1971, the focus could have…

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The Jimmy Raye Project: A Story of a Man who carved a path for Black players and coaches

PHOTO: Jimmy Raye today posing as if he had boarded Duffy Daugherty's Underground Railroad in 1964 bound for Michigan State. Visit my website homepage, TomShanahan.Report NFL Media's release promoting its February 8 screening of a documentary on Jimmy Raye during Super Bowl week. *** The National Football League is celebrating this Black History Month with a private screening of The Jimmy Raye Project, a special episode of the Emmy Award-Winning series 'NFL 360' that explores how one man's story…

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