The teams will be recognized at halftime during Michigan State’s upcoming football game against Prairie View A&M on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 3:30 p.m.

Daugherty, on and off the field

Daugherty led the Michigan State football squads as head coach from 1954 to 1972 and won the national championship in 1965 and 1966. 

"Duffy was, by nature, a very gregarious individual, but as a coach, he was fair and demanding and wanted everybody to give 100% effort," Jimmy Raye, a pioneer Black quarterback at MSU from 1964-67, said. "He worked a lot on selflessness and attitude. He led with a sense of charisma and was never uptight."

Daugherty led the team to a 10-1 record in 1965 and 9-0-1 record in 1966, also bringing the Spartans back-to-back undefeated Big Ten titles.  

Most importantly, he helped integrate the sport that is loved today by millions. 

"Duffy didn’t see color, he saw talent," Bob Apisa, college football’s first Samoan All-American and MSU fullback from 1965 to 1967 said.

Raye said with Daugherty’s inclusion, many players came from segregated environments and playing at MSU was a lot of their first times playing with or against white and Samoan players. Raye said that made Daughtery an even better coach.

"He was a great task-master and extended himself beyond the boundaries that other coaches in the country were doing," Raye said. "He created a platform for us to perform, and he was a great leader and very good man."

Breaking the color barrier

At the time, schools had an unwritten quota limiting their football teams to five Black kids on scholarship. Daugherty didn’t care and rebelled against it.

"Daugherty smashed that quota," said Tom Shanahan, sportswriter and author of works related to Daughery's teams. "He didn’t worry about numbers."

Daugherty gave groups of minorities, specifically Black and Samoan players, an opportunity to play in the Big Ten, something that was unheard of back then.

Jerry West, an offensive lineman for MSU from 1964 to 1966, said Daugherty realized he needed to tap into his potential and give minority athletes the opportunity to play at MSU. 

In 1962, MSU had 17 Black players on its football team. In the 1966 national championship game against Notre Dame, MSU had 20 Black players, 11 of them starters and two team captains, voted for by the predominantly white roster. The Irish had just one. 

After this game, teams began to follow Michigan State.

"Daugherty’s fingerprints are from coast to coast," Shanahan said. "All these guys became head coaches, went across the country and followed Duffy’s blueprint of expanding opportunities for Black athletes."

To put into perspective the team’s influence, in the 1960s, 41% of Black players who won a national championship were from Michigan State. Furthermore, MSU’s 1962 team was the first fully-integrated roster and its 1964 team was the first fully-integrated team to play in the South.

People in the South recognized Michigan State as an outlet for Black players to play during the Civil Rights and Jim Crow eras. 

"Black Americans, particularly in the South, noticed that Michigan State had a lot of Black players, and so Michigan State became kind of a North Star for African Americans," Shanahan said. "Duffy Daugherty didn’t recruit the South. The South recruited Duffy Daugherty."

Since MSU was at the forefront of change and because it had many eyes on it, fans, coaches and players were able to see the Spartans' strategy. Players got along and stereotypes were broken, completely changing the way people viewed integration in college football. 

Even though Michigan State was playing during the Civil Rights Movement, the players didn’t quite understand their impact and how influential the integration was.

The teams' significance

The 1965 and 1966 MSU teams went two seasons with just one combined loss and two championships. According to players on those teams, even their practice squads were better than some of their opponents. 

"We weren’t thinking in terms of bringing about a change in the country. We were really engrossed in each other and football," said Clinton Jones, a halfback at MSU from 1964 to 1966. "We were trailblazers, but we didn’t think of ourselves that way. We just saw ourselves as a band of brothers that actually had a great deal of admiration for each other’s talent."

Every athlete played a role in the team dynamic.

"As the years go by, you realize how influential the players were from that era," West said. "Daugherty realized the potential (the players) had."

In a time of uncertainty, the MSU players had to stick together. With that came some of the best friendships and brotherhood in their lives.  

"They were my brothers. I would die for them," Jones said.

Jimmy Raye, known as the South’s first Black quarterback to win a national title, said that while he was in college, he didn’t understand the significance of integrating a college football team.

"We were just ball players trying to unite for a common cause and win games. I don’t think any of us, at that time, knew the significance of what we were about to accomplish," Raye said. "But, I’m very grateful and very humble that people are still talking about it and it still resonates some 60 years later."

The two squads sparked generational talent: the first four Black players from the same class in the College Football Hall of Fame are Michigan State’s Bubba Smith, George Webster, Gene Washington and Clinton Jones. Those same players ended up being four of the first eight picks in the 1967 NFL Draft. 

Jones, West, Apisa and Raye will all attend the induction ceremony, along with many others from the teams. All are excited to see their old teammates and reflect on the last 60 years.

"I’m really looking forward to seeing guys I haven’t seen since 1965 and 1966, and some that I’ve seen often, to celebrate with them," Raye said. 

"It’ll be like another big reunion," West said. "It’ll be good to see all the guys."

"I cried tears when I found out (about the induction)," Jones said. "It’s a great honor and privilege."

"It’s a great honor," Apisa said. "It signifies the legacy (and teams) of Michigan State. But foremost, it signifies our alumni support. Without the alumni, without their support, it’s like being in the ocean without a paddle."

Shanahan said the teams deserve to have this moment to celebrate together because they "broke ground on and off the field." However, he argued the university is too late in recognizing them, and it hasn't completely given them, specifically Daugherty, their flowers yet.

"Michigan State has failed by not understanding its history that Duffy set in the 1950s and 60s. They changed college football 60 years ago. They deserved this a long time ago," Shanahan said.  

Raye said being inducted into the MSU Hall of Fame is a "team accomplishment" and none of it would have been possible without the help of every player.

"I’m glad Michigan State took the step forward to (induct us). I think the history of that accomplishment will stand forever at the university, and is a source of pride and the accomplishments and what it did to foster integration in the South and knock down the barriers of Jim Crow and racial segregation for young men like myself," Raye said. "It was a chance to go to school in the state that (players) grew up in nearby, and have the opportunity to get an education and play ball."

Clinton Jones, who plans to read a poem at the induction ceremony, described the team as a group that persisted through different eras.

At the ceremony, Raye said he will remember his times with Daugherty and his close-knit teammates by reflecting on the change they inspired during the 1960s.

"Duffy used to always say to us that if you play your best, one play at a time, greatness could be yours, and your name will be written in indelible ink that will last a lifetime," Raye said. "I had no idea that some 60 years later, they would still be talking about the championship teams. He was poetic in that way, but I guess he had a vision for our group."