The Wonders of Michigan State’s expanded worlds under President John Hannah’s leadership

PHOTO: Wonders Hall opened in 1963 as John Hannah's example of a progressive campus before the 1964 and 1965 Civil Rights Acts were signed. Visit my website homepage, TomShanahan.Report By TOM SHANAHAN Gene Washington escaped the segregated South 60 years ago, boarding Michigan State’s Underground Railroad from La Porte, Texas. His life-altering journey as a freshman football recruit for preseason practice was prior to September classes. The time frame, coincidentally, matched 250,000 Americans traveling to the nation’s capital…

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The night Olympian Don Behm flipped Bubba Smith

On an ordinary 1965 spring night the great Bubba Smith encountered Michigan State All-American wrestler Don Behm hurrying down a Wonders Hall residential first floor hallway. Bubba challenged him to wrestling match on the spot. Behm gave away 15 inches and 150-some pounds, but believe it or not he flipped Bubba, much to the delight of two other Michigan State’s football players in the hallway, George Webster and Charlie Thornhill. They burst into laughter as the 5-foot-4, 130-pound…

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