Visit my homepage: TomShanahan.Report
— Click here for book review and purchase link: THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s and here for a purchase link to RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans.
— Watch a three-minute video to learn about our documentary at the fundraising stage, GAME CHANGERS OF THE CENTURY, and the Investment Deck.
— Documentary synopsis: Duffy documentary snynopsis.pdf – Google Drive
— I will debate anybody, anytime, anywhere Duffy Daugherty led college football integration
— My FWAA first-place story on the 1962 Rose Bowl and segregation
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By TOM SHANAHAN
The death of Civil Rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson’s on February 2/17 reminded me of my interview him while I researched the book “RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans.
Jackson’s insight on the ground-breaking roles of Michigan State’s 1954 Rose Bowl team and Raye as the South’s first Black quarterback to win a national title on the 1965 and 1966 teams helped me to understand the national influence of College Football Hall of Fame coach Duffy Daugherty’s teams.
The Foreword to RAYE OF LIGHT was written by Tony Dungy, the Pro Football Hall of Fame coach who considered Jimmy Raye a mentor.
Here are excerpts from RAYE OF LIGHT:
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My words from Acknowledgements:
There were a few unreturned phone calls, but one special response came from Jesse Jackson. He emphasized to me the importance of Black athletes simply being seen on television in a positive role – particularly a Black quarterback such as Jimmy Raye – in an era when postive role models were otherwise non-existent or portrayed negatively.
— Page XXIIII
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Jackson commenting on Michigan State’s pioneering Black athletes breaking ground and supporting Civil Rights, although they weren’t active participants in protests.
But Civil Rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson said it was important to the cause simply for them to be seen in stadiums, newspapers, magazines, and one television in America’s living rooms.
“These athletes redefined race relations in many ways. Why do we do well in baseball, football, basketball and track? On the ball field the playing field is even. When rules are objective and public, and there referees are fair, we can win. The ball field is so unique. These athletes made it to the top because fair rules lend themselves to achieving.”
Jackson had experienced his own journey as a Black quarterback from the south to a Big Ten school. Raye accomplished what Jackson hoped to achieve when he attended the University of Illinois on the freshman team in 1959 from Greensville, South Carolina.
“Jimmy Raye was one of my heroes. We pulled for him. Ther weren’t many Black quarterbacks in the pipeline then. We knew that people like him had tremendous pressure on them. They had to not just play but perform better than their competitor. We know there would be alumni pressure to play the White quarterback, and Jimmy would have to sit. We knew there were two sets of rules.”
— Chapter 1, Michigan State’s Underground Railroad, Page 5
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Jackson explained to me African Americans began adopting Michigan State as their team following the 1954 Rose Bowl. Leroy Bolden and Ellis Duckett, two Black All-American players from Flint, Michigan, scored touchdowns.
The 1954 Rose Bowl also influenced Jesse Jackson as a wide eyed 12-year-old youth in South Carolina. He took particular note of Bolden and Duckett. Bolden scored on a one-yard touchdown run, and Duckett blocked a punt and returned it six yards for a touchdown in Michigan State’s 28-20 victory.
— Chapter 1, Michigan State’s Underground Railroad, Page 9
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Jackson on too many modern Black athletes failing to understand the history that cleared the road to them to succeed.
“They are so detached from history that made them possible. That’s why they blow their chances with foolishness — their style and comportment. You have but a moment or two in the sun. When you have that uniform on, you’re one kind of guy. When that uniform comes off, you’re a citizen so fast.”
— Chapter 1, Michigan State’s Underground Railroad, Page 15
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ADDENDUM
Jackson’s insight on African Americans watching Michigan State Black All-American players Leroy Bolden and Ellis Duckett scoring touchdowns in the televised Rose Bowl helped me to understand the genesis of the Duffy Daugherty’s Underground Railroad. Southern Black high school coaches during segregation and White southerners opposed to segregation began steering players to Daugherty.
The coaches included Willie Ray Smith Sr., the father of Michigan State College Football Hall of Famer Bubba Smith, who won 235 games and two Black state titles in Texas.
The right-minded White southerners included Roanoke World-News sportswriter Bob McLelland. He informed Daugherty about Roanoke legend Charlie Thornhill, the first Black player to make the area’s all-region team.
Decades later a myth was crafted, which obfuscated Alabama coach Bear Bryant’s role as a segregationist, was the one who tipped off Daugherty. The Thornhill family states in Raye of Light McLelland was the Daugherty’s source. The unvetted myths spread by sloppy journalism in the national media promoted Bryant finding Thornhill. The fairytale has been at expense of the Daugherty’s legacy.
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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, coming soon on Barnes and Noble and Amazon.
