Jimmy Raye and "Raye of Light"

When I was a kid, with two parents who were students at MSU in the mid-sixties, I grew up hearing stories of the Michigan State football teams of that era, particularly the 1965 and 1966 squads that compiled a 19-1-1 record, two undefeated Big Ten championship seasons, and--depending on what poll one consults--two national titles. They were among the greatest teams in college football history, led by a colorful coach and an astounding collection of incredible athletes.

When I saw photos of the mid-'60s Spartans teams, I saw plenty of black faces, but as a youngster I thought nothing of it. After all, the football I grew up with was fully integrated, with white players playing alongside black players. It wasn't until the late 1980s--or perhaps even as late as the 1990s--that I realized how unique MSU's 1960s teams were. During a time of segregation, when African-Americans were refused admission to Southern colleges and universities, MSU coach Duffy Daugherty, fearlessly and without apology, recruited African-American players to the Spartan football program. Consciously or not, Duffy was a Civil Rights pioneer.

Left to right: Clinton Jones, Bob Apisa, Bubba Smith, Coach Duffy Daugherty, Gene Washington, George Webster

Yesterday, I attended a presentation at the downtown Lansing library featuring author Tom Shanahan and the first African-American collegiate football player from the South to start at quarterback for a national championship team, Jimmy Raye of Michigan State. The two have collaborated on a book, Raye of Light, that details and illuminates the important role MSU had in the integration of college football, and the journeys of such players as Raye, Gene Washington, Charles "Bubba" Smith, Charles "Mad Dog" Thornhill.

Jimmy Raye as a Spartan

Jimmy Raye is an impressive person. He possesses a quiet, yet driven intensity that comes through in his bearing and his words. (With his shaved head, grey beard, and wire rim glasses, he looks a bit like a combination of blues singer Taj Mahal and former basketball great Bill Russell--if one can imagine that combination), I was sitting in the back of the auditorium, but I could swear that Mr. Raye was looking straight at me and his eyes were practically burning a hole through my body. Now, I know that may sound a bit overly dramatic, but that is the power that Jimmy Raye possesses. He radiates intensity, and has a deliberate, measured, and deeply thoughtful style of speaking.

The more I heard Jimmy Raye talk about the challenges he faced and the journey he has taken over the years, the more I disappointed I became that this man never was given the chance to be a head football coach. If only attitudes in the 1970s, 1980s, and even 1990s had been different, Raye would have received the opportunity he so richly deserved.

For the young Jimmy Raye, seeing Sandy Stephens lead the Minnesota Golden Gophers to the 1961 and 1962 Rose Bowls was the first inkling that playing quarterback at a major university was a possibility.

Sandy Stephens, Minnesota Golden Gophers quarterback

Although Jimmy Raye initially wanted to follow in the footsteps of Sandy Stephens and attend Minnesota, he ended up in East Lansing. However, Before Raye arrived on MSU's campus from Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1964, he was concerned that he would not get the opportunity to play quarterback, since other MSU players, originally recruited as quarterbacks, had been converted to other positions. They discouraged Raye from coming to MSU, but he came anyway. (I was a little unclear as to how or why he changed his mind--probably because I was sitting in the back of the auditorium--but I'm sure it will all be illuminated in the book).

In his freshman year, Raye played on the freshman team and was voted most valuable freshman player. In 1965, his sophomore year, he was Steve Juday's backup on Duffy's first national championship team. When Steve Juday was ineffective in the 1966 Rose Bowl, Raye entered the game in relief and nearly led the Spartans back to at least a tie.  It was obvious that MSU's loss to UCLA in the Rose Bowl--the only MSU loss in two years--still weighs heavily on Jimmy Raye--as it does his teammates--as he recounted the failed two-point conversion attempt that would have tied the game. Raye wishes that instead of handing the ball off to Bob Apisa, as Coach Daugherty instructed, he'd faked the hand off and ran it in himself because, as he put it, the path was so clear he could have "run all the way back to Fayetteville." As Raye saw it, since Daugherty had requested that the ball be placed on the left hash mark, UCLA's defense knew that the play would run to the right and that Apisa would be the ball carrier. The Bruins' defense was prepared to focus on Apisa, and UCLA's Bob Stiles tackled Apisa short of the goal line. (He paid for it by getting knocked out cold on the play. For his sacrifice, Stiles was named Rose Bowl MVP).

Jimmy Raye said that, as much as he loved and respected Duffy, the lesson he learned from that play was that sometimes coaches just need to let the players play and trust in the players' abilities.

1965 Michigan State Spartans football team

My vantage point from the library auditorium

Raye also recounted some funny stories about the lead-up to the Rose Bowl. The team was understandably excited to be in Los Angeles for the game. Some of them, however, spent a few days prowling the Sunset Strip and certain trendy nightclubs like the Whisky a Go-Go (famous hangout for Hollywood celebrities and launching pad for bands like The Byrds and The Doors, to name a few). When Duffy heard about this, he moved the team to a monastery in the San Gabriel Mountains. Despite the good times the team had in California, Jimmy Raye insists that this had nothing to do with the Spartans' loss in the Rose Bowl.

The 1966 season was another great season for Michigan State, as they reeled off nine straight victories and were undefeated headed into the November 19 "Game of the Century" clash against the also undefeated Notre Dame. Raye said that the black players on MSU's team were conscious of the significance of the game, which was to be televised nationally, and made a point of playing the peak of their abilities to prove to the nation what African-American players were capable of doing. In one of the hardest-hitting and most equally matched games ever played, the two titans battled to a 10-10 tie. Despite the unsatisfactory result of the game for the Spartans, their African-American players proved their greatness and capabilities to a national audience, and helped change college football.

Another amusing tale involves a time when players were made to stand up alone and sing a song to the rest of the team (probably similar to the scene in Paper Lion when each player stood up and sang his school's fight song). At the time, the team was divided along racial lines with white guys sitting with white guys and black guys sitting with black guys. Drake Garrett, an African-American player, stood up and sang the Beach Boys' "California Girls." The sight of a black player singing a "white" surf song cracked up the entire team, and from that point on the racial barriers broke down.

Naturally, I had to buy Raye of Light and got it signed by both Mr. Raye and Mr. Shanahan. I'm looking forward to reading it and hope to give a full report here in this blog.

Jimmy Raye, deep in concentration and intense even when signing books.

Back from my "bye week": Oregon post-mortem, and the upcoming EMU game

The Spartans had a bye week, and it turned out that I had my own bye week as well. I didn't intend on being away for so long, but so it goes.

As everyone already knows by now, MSU lost to Oregon way back on September 6. I wasn't surprised that the Spartans lost, but I was somewhat perplexed and disappointed with the way they lost. MSU got out of the gates slowly, had a tremendous second quarter in which they took the lead and appeared to have the Ducks on the ropes. This dominance looked like it was about to carry over into the second half, but then the game took an inexplicable and sudden downward turn.

Part of the problem for MSU in the second half was that Marcus Mariota remembered that he is a Heisman candidate and probable first round draft pick, and played like it. Unfortunately, some blown assignments by the Spartans secondary made the task easier for Mariota.

(There is a degree of historical irony in a Hawaiian quarterback wreaking havoc on the Spartans. In the 1950s and 1960s, Duffy Daugherty heavily recruited Hawaii, and had a "Hawaii pipeline" for several years. Players like Bob Apisa, Charlie Wedemeyer, and Dick Kenney--to name a few--were important contributors for the Spartans when Duffy was coach. I have a feeling that if Duffy were alive today, he'd be wondering how Marcus Mariota wasn't wearing green and white rather than green and yellow).

To paraphrase Mark Dantonio, football is about the inches: what team gets them and what team doesn't. MSU had a few opportunities to get those inches, but came up short. Oregon, on the other hand, converted when they had to do so. It all added up to a 46-27 loss.

Beyond the disappointment of the loss itself, what still irks me is the meaningless touchdown that Oregon scored with 1:25 left in the game. The Ducks can't really be faulted, it's not as if they threw the ball into the end zone for the touchdown. It was a simple running play that MSU didn't stop. Still, it changed what should have been a 39-27 loss to a 46-27 loss. (Yes, I know that a loss is still a loss, but perception is reality. Folks will look at that final score and assume the game wasn't as close as it actually was. That could end up haunting MSU at the end of the season).

So now a truly wretched Eastern Michigan football team heads into Spartan Stadium. The Eagles are so bad, they not only were hammered 65-0 by a rebuilding Florida team, but even lost by two touchdowns to Old Dominion. Now I don't know about you, but when I think of Old Dominion, I think of women's basketball and Justin Verlander (who played baseball for the Monarchs). I certainly don't think of football. Well, the Monarchs handled EMU quite handily.

I don't see EMU putting up much of a fight against what should be a Michigan State team itching to get back into action after the Oregon disappointment.

Izzo and basketball attendance; and Dantonio's place in MSU football history

Tom Izzo and last night's basketball attendance

Last night, after the Spartan basketball team dispatched the Portland Pilots at Breslin Center, Tom Izzo expressed his extreme displeasure that so few people had turned out for the game.

While I can understand Izzo's disappointment, or can at the very least empathize, the terrible storms in lower and mid-Michigan must have had something to do with this. Thousands of people lost power late on Sunday night and the wee hours of Monday morning. I speculate that this is what kept people away.

While I always welcome Tom Izzo's candor, and generally think he's on target with his comments and criticisms, I don't know if his anger over this was well-timed. I wonder if he considered that the damage caused by Sunday night's storm, and its aftermath, had anything to do with the empty seats?

Whatever the case may be, I certainly hope that attendance improves for the upcoming home basketball games. After all, we do have the number one team in the land. If we continue to see empty seats at Breslin Center, than there is a problem due more to complacency than bad weather and power outages.

Mark Dantonio's place in MSU coaching history

From Tom Izzo, undeniably the greatest coach in MSU basketball history (and possibly the greatest coach MSU has had in any sport), to Mark Dantonio, a coach who is staking a claim as one of the best the university has seen.

With the victory at Nebraska, Dantonio won his 60th game as MSU's head football coach. Yesterday, I did a quick Wikipedia search to see how he stacks up with other Spartan football coaches.

Dantonio currently has the second highest Big Ten winning percentage in MSU football history. He's behind only Biggie Munn, who coached the Spartans in their inaugural year of conference play before stepping down to become university athletic director. Munn had a 5-1 conference record in 1953, an .833 winning percentage. Dantonio's current Big Ten record is 36-18 (.667). So among Spartan football coaches who have coached multiple Big Ten seasons (probably a better basis for comparison than Munn's lone conference season in '53), Dantonio is all alone in first place.

Coach D, in only his seventh season, is already fourth all-time in victories. His 60 wins are behind Duffy Daugherty (109), Charlie Bachman (70) and George Perles (officially 68, with 5 wins from the 1994 season forfeited).

Dantonio, with an overall win/loss record of 60-29, has a .674 winning percentage. This is third all-time behind Biggie Munn's virtually unapproachable .846 and Chester Brewer's .699.

It's true that, unlike Munn and Daugherty, Dantonio doesn't have any national championships. But let's face it, the landscape of college football has changed since Munn and Daugherty were coaching in the '40s, '50s, and '60s. It may not be completely realistic at this point to expect MSU to contend for national titles when Alabama and the SEC rule the roost. Demographics have changed substantially over the last few decades, and the Big Ten may never be as powerful as it was in the days of Munn and Daugherty.

For what Dantonio has accomplished, with the resources he's had at his disposal, he ranks among the best football coaches in Michigan State University history.

(Addendum: At the conclusion of the 2013 football season, Dantonio's overall record is even better than it was when I originally wrote this post. He has an overall record of 64-29 (.679), and a conference record of 38-18 (.688)).

 

Words of wisdom from Duffy

Late last week, I started reading Duffy Daugherty's autobiography, published in 1974, entitled simply, Duffy. After reading some some typically insane, irate comments from MSU "fans" angry as hell over the Ohio State loss, I came across something in Duffy's book that can be applied to these fans. Duffy actually wrote this in regard to unrealistic expectations of media, but it also accurately describes many fans. Here's what Duffy said, "Quite often, a writer or broadcaster will want you to win so badly that he'll expect you to, even when you're saddled with a mediocre team. Then, when you don't do as well as he expected, he'll rip your guts out because of his own disappointment."

Spartan fans, I know you're disappointed that the team didn't beat Ohio State (and, did not even make it a game). Sometimes, you bump into a team that's just flat out better than your team. That's life. Now, I wouldn't necessarily classify this year's Spartans as "mediocre," but they do have some deficiencies that we all knew about before the season even started. We all need to take a deep breath and appreciate what this team has done so far this season. I still say that if the team wins eight regular season games, they will have exceeded expectations.