New book “The Right Thing to Do” sheds light on Duffy Daugherty’s impact on college football integration

OKEMOS, Mich. (WLNS) – Author and sportswriter Tom Shanahan was in Okemos on Thursday to sign and discuss his new book, “The Right Thing to Do.”

The book sheds light on the role Duffy Daugherty, his players and his extensive coaching tree played in the integration of college football in the 1960s. It also argues that mythical stories about the role Alabama’s Bear Bryant played in integration take credit away from Daugherty and other pioneers.

Daugherty is the legendary Michigan State football coach who led the Spartans from 1954 to 1972. He led the Spartans to national championships in 1965 and 1966.

Daugherty recruited black players from the segregated south throughout the 1960s. His recruiting tactics became known as the “underground railroad” of college football.

The 1965 and 1966 teams featured 20 black players, including stars like George Webster, Bubba Smith, Gene Washington and quarterback Jimmy Raye.

At the time, a lot of schools had not yet integrated and the programs that had typically did not have more than four or five black players on their roster at one time.

In the book, Shanahan argues Daugherty was one of the great pioneers in college football integration through his recruiting practices, treatment of players and the work his assistant coaches went on to do at other college programs across the country.

“The point that I’m trying to make is that Michigan State is a singular story,” said Shanahan. “We’re not another Minnesota. We’re not another Illinois and we’re definitely not another USC. All those schools followed unwritten quotas limiting black athletes. Duffy Daugherty smashed those quotas.”

He also argues Daugherty’s influence is largely misremembered historically because credit is mistakenly assigned to Bryant.

The credit given to Bryant stems in part from a 1970 football game between USC and Alabama. At the time, the Crimson Tide did not have black players on their roster and the Trojans had several black starters, including standout running back Sam “Bam” Cunningham. USC defeated Alabama 42-21 in that game behind a big performance from Cunningham. Alabama integrated its team the following year.

College football folklore includes a number of narratives about the game which Shanahan contends are more fiction than fact.

For example, one oft-repeated story suggests Bryant scheduled the game knowing his team would be outmatched, and the purpose of it was to show Alabama Gov. George Wallace and others that it was time to allow Alabama to recruit black players. Shanahan points out that Wallace was not Alabama’s governor at the time, as 1970 was part of a four-year gap between his first and second term as governor.

Shanahan also points out Alabama was the seventh SEC school to integrate and says the credit given to Bryant overlooks the work Daugherty and others had done years earlier.

Other myths around Bryant include that he sent black players from the south to Daugherty when he couldn’t recruit them to come to Alabama.

“Bear Bryant was ignorant of black players until he signed his first one in 1970,” Shanahan said. “He’s on film as late as 1967 saying, he was asked why he didn’t have any black players, and he said he couldn’t find any that were academically qualified. Yet somehow this myth got started that Bear Bryant was sending Duffy Daugherty players and then on top of that, people have said ‘well Duffy Daugherty, he only recruited the South so that he could win football games.’ People don’t understand Duffy Daugherty took chances on black athletes that were undersized, like a Jimmy Raye.”

In his book discussion Thursday night, Shanahan also implored Michigan State University to do a better job highlighting and memorializing Daugherty’s contributions. He hopes a renewed effort from the university would help correct the historical narrative and teach current students about an important piece of their campus’ history.

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