MSU Football History
The 1996 Michigan State University football
campaign marked the 100th season of
Spartan football. Spartan gridders of
yesteryear were invited back to campus for
various reunions for each MSU home game
this fall; 100 banners decorate campus and
East Lansing; the MSU Museum features
Spartan tan football as its primary exhibit
during the fall; and "100 Seasons"
merchandise is available almost anywhere
Spartan fans look: on campus, in retail
stores, and, yes, even on the Internet.
One can only imagine what Henry Keep
would think of all the hype and electricity
that swirls around his old campus on fall
Saturdays today: the 70,000 fans, the
Stadium, the tailgating (or the actual
tailgates, for that matter), the planes circling
above, the TV trucks, and the game itself,
now played by giant warriors in armor on
synthetic grass.
Who's Henry Keep? Perhaps he's the best
place to start this odyssey of gridiron glory
known as "100 Seasons of Spartan
Football"...
Directory of Football History
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
Section 6
The Origins of Spartan Football
Section 1
While some evidence of attempted football teams at then-Michigan Agricultural College dates to
1884, problems with administrative support, scheduling and coaching kept football from becoming
a varsity sport on campus until 1896.
During that first season, the
Aggies played a four-game
schedule, posting a 1-2-1
record with the lone win
coming vs. Lansing High
School. Results-wise, it was
an inauspicious start, but it
launched football as a sport on
campus for generations to
come -- 100 seasons for that
matter (MSU did not field a
varsity team in 1943 due to
WWII, thus making the 1996
season the 100th).
With one whole season in the
books, along came Henry
Keep. Keep was an
engineering student at MAC
who was appointed the
school's first football coach by
the Athletic Association as a result of the quality manner in which he trained the track team. He
guided the Aggies to an 8-5-1 mark during the 1897-98 seasons. In fact, the 1897 team went
4-2-1, the first winning season in MAC history.
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The 1899 season brought the first full-time football coach to MAC, Charles Bemies, who coached
two seasons and was followed by George Denman for a pair of seasons.
But the mentor who truly revolutionized MAC football in
the early years was Chester Brewer, a former four-sport
star at Wisconsin who guided the Aggies from 1903 to
1910, and then again for single seasons in 1917 and 1919.
Brewer (see photo on left) never lost a home game in his
first stint at MAC, and posted 49 shutouts in 88 career
games coached. Highlights of Brewer's years included a
0-0 tie with Fielding Yost's powerful Michigan team in
1908, as the Spartans went undefeated for the first time
with a 6-0-2 mark.
Brewer's initial reign was followed by John Macklin,
whose .853 winning percentage (29-5) from 1911 to 1915
still ranks No, 2 on the Spartan career coaching chart.
Macklin's 1913 team registered the first perfect season in
school history, going 7-0. That team also featured the first
African-American student to play MAC football, Gideon
Smith, an all-star tackle who also is believed to be one of
the first of his race ever to play collegiate football.
Macklin's teams also boasted the first All-Americans in
MAC annals: Neno Jerry DaPrato and Blake Miller in 1915.
In 1923, football was played on the current site of Spartan
Stadium for the first time, and seating capacity climbed to
14,000.
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Transition Times
Section 2
In 1925, MAC was renamed Michigan State College, and MSC athletes became "Spartans" in 1926
when Lansing State Journal sports editor George Alderton began using the nickname in newspaper
stories.
This was also the coaching
era of the now famous Ralph
Young. Although Young
coached MAC and MSC
with only moderate success,
he brought stability to a
program that badly needed
it, laying the foundation on
which the school's entire
athletic structure grew.
Young, who was also a fine
track and field coach, is best
known for his success as
State's athletic director,
1923-54.
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Following some lean years, the MSC football program was revived by one of Notre Dame's
immortal Four Horsemen, Jim Crowley. Crowley took over
as head coach in 1929 and produced four straight winning
seasons en route to a 22-8-3 mark. A 93-0 route of Alma
College in Crowley's last season marked the last game vs.
MIAA schools as MSC continued its climb toward football
prominence.
Crowley passed the baton on to fellow Notre Dame alumnus
Charles Bachman, who helped the Spartans carve out 10
winning campaigns in 13 seasons from 1933 to 1946 (no
football in '43). All-Americans during the Bachman era
included guard Sidney Wagner, fullback Art Brandstatter and
halfback John Pingel. The 1937 squad was the first Spartan
team to go to a bowl game, the 1938 Orange Bowl, where it dropped a 6-0 decision to Auburn.
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Hitting the Bigtime
The Golden Years--Section 3
Any trepidation over losing 13-year-coach Bachman was
quickly soothed with the arrival of Clarence L. Munn (see
photo on right) to the MSC head coach's office. Better known
as "Biggie," he would compile a seven-year slate of 54-9-2 for
an .857 winning clip, still tops among Spartan grid coaches.
Munn directed State's longest gridiron winning streak, a
28-game ride that lasted from the fourth game of 1950 to the
fifth game of 1953. In between were back-to-back 9-0 seasons
in 1951 and 1952, with the Spartans earning a No. 2 national
ranking in '51 before claiming the national crown in '52 under
"National Coach of the Year" Munn.
The 1951 squad had 10 players drafted by the pros, led by
two-way tackle Don Coleman, perhaps the greatest player
during Munn's tenure. Revered as the greatest lineman in MSU
history and one of just two Spartan players ever to have a
football number retired, Coleman finished a stellar career with
All-America honors as a senior.
Munn's
1953
curtain-call
season
resulted
in a Big Ten co-championship and a
1954 Rose Bowl win over UCLA
(28-20) in State's first season of Big
Ten football. That squad was led by
the "Pony Backfield" of Billy Wells,
LeRoy Bolden, Evan Slonac and Tom
Yewcic.
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When Munn traded his whistle for the
athletic director's post, assistant coach
Hugh Duffy Daugherty was there to
try his hand as head coach. Nineteen
seasons, 109 wins, 29 First-Team
All-Americans and two national
"Coach of the Year" honors later -- all
MSU records -- it was safe to say he
made the right career move. Daugherty enjoyed immediate success, leading his second squad to a
17-14 win over UCLA in the 1956 Rose Bowl on the most famous kick in Spartan history: Dave
Kaiser's game-winning 41-yard field goal in the closing seconds. That season also was the year
that MSC became Michigan State University.
After enjoying success throughout his first decade, Duffy put together
two of the best back-to-back squads in collegiate football history. The
1965 and 1966 Spartans won back-to-back Big Ten titles while also
earning lofty status in the national polls. The '65 team was ranked No. 1
by the UPI, as the lone blemish in a 10-1 season came with a 14-12 loss
to UCLA in the '66 Rose Bowl.
The following year's Big Ten schedule served as a training camp for the
"Game of the Century," as undefeated powerhouses MSU and Notre
Dame reached a crossroads at Spartan Stadium in the 1966 finale. The
hype proved greater than the outcome for either side, however, as the
game ended in a 10-10 tie. While State finished with a No, 2 national
ranking, it shared the MacArthur Bowl with Notre Dame, symbolic of the
country's best team. Stalwarts of the '65 and '66 teams were
All-Americans Bob Apisa, Clint Jones, Bubba Smith, Gene Washington
and George Webster, the latter four of whom were selected in the first
round of the 1967 pro draft. Apisa, who still had a season to play, was
selected a year later.
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Peaks and Valleys
Section 4
Following the 1965 and 1966 seasons,
Daugherty's squads hovered around the .500 mark
until he bid farewell with a 5-5-1 campaign in
1972. Even his last years offered some historic
moments, however: the '68 team upset No. 5
Notre Dame; artificial turf was placed in Spartan
Stadium for the first time ever in '69; and Eric
"The Flea" Allen put on a one-man show still
unmatched in Spartan annals with 350 yards
rushing (then an NCAA record) vs. Purdue in '71.
In Daugherty's final season, MSU upset No. 5
Ohio State and safety Brad Van Pelt won the
Maxwell Award as college football's "Player of the
Year."
The next three
Spartan teams
were headed by
Denny Stolz,
highlighted by a
16-13 shocker
over No. 1
Ohio State in 1974. Levi Jackson's decisive 88-yard TD jaunt
late in the game (see photo above) remains one of the favorite
clips on Spartan highlight reels.
Darryl Rogers arrived on the scene in 1976 and guided MSU to
the 1978 Big Ten co-championship with the most potent
offense in conference history: 481.3 yards per game.
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Much of that offense came from the prolific pass-catch combo
of Eddie Smith-to-Kirk Gibson. Smith set Big Ten career
passing records (5,706 yds., 789 att., 418 comp.), while
"Gibby" was named "Outstanding Offensive End in the
Nation." Rogers left for Arizona State in 1980, yielding to
Frank "Muddy" Waters for three seasons. Following a 2-9
season in 1982, another effort was made to restore the proud
football tradition in East Lansing.
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The Return to Glory
Section 5
In 1983, George Perles brought four Super Bowl rings, the stunt 4-3 defense, and a fresh outlook
to a Spartan program that had won just 10 times in the previous three years. He also promised to
bring a Big Ten title to MSU within five years.
After a 4-6-1 start (1983), the next two teams enjoyed enough
success to earn postseason bowl berths; the Cherry Bowl in 1984
and the All American Bowl in 1985, MSU's first bowl action
since the '66 Rose Bowl. That was just the prelude.
The 1987 team won the Big Ten title with a 7-0-1 mark, giving
the program its first Rose Bowl berth in 22 years. After defeating
USC, 20-17, to finish 9-2-1, State was ranked No. 8 in the
country, its first top 10 selection since 1966. Perles was named
Big Ten and national "Coach of the Year." The 1988 Rose Bowl
capped Lorenzo White's brilliant career, as he finished with
4,887 yards, No. 1 on the Spartan career ladder.
The real strength of the '87
squad though was their defense.
The 184.5 total yards and the
37.6 rushing yards given up by
the Gang Green defense are the
fewest allowed by a Big Ten
team since MSU's 1965
championship team. The
defensive coordinator at the time
was current MSU Head Coach
Nick Saban.
16 Spartans made it on the All-Big Ten team that year. Seven of
them were on the First Team.
Other Spartan stars from that championship team carried on, as
mammoth tackle Tony Mandarich, game-breaking receiver Andre
Rison and punishing linebacker Percy Snow earned All-America
honors in 1988 en route to a second-place Big Ten effort and a
Gator Bowl berth. Rison set a school record with 292 receiving
ing yards and three TDs in the Gator Bowl, while Snow's best
year was yet to come, becoming the first player ever to win the
Butkus and Lombardi awards, in 1989.
Perles, who guided MSU to
seven bowl games and produced 50 NFL draftees in 12
seasons, coached MSU to one more Big Ten co-championship
in 1990. That season's Spartans were ranked as high as 14th in
the nation and went on to beat a formidible Southern California
team in the John Hancock Bowl 17-16. It was MSU's 4th
straight bowl game, a school record.
The following year, MSU finished the year ranked 16th in the
country. The Spartans also came away with a victory over
Hawaii in the Aloha Bowl. The victory was a fitting end for
Snow and fellow linebackers Carlos Jenkins and Dixon
Edwards. All three went on to the NFL.
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Coach Perles took the team to its last bowl during his coaching
stay in the 1993 St. Jude Liberty Bowl. After that, four
non-winning seasons eventually took their toll and brought an
end to the Perles era at State. Only Duffy Daugherty (183)
coached more games than Perles' 139.
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The Road Ahead
Section 6
In December of 1994, Nick Saban, the defensive architect of MSU's '88 Rose Bowl team and one
of the NFL's top defensive minds as coordinator of the Cleveland Browns' unit, returned to MSU
as its 20th head football coach. With renewed intensity, discipline and focus, the 1995 Spartans
posted MSU's first winning season since 1990 and earned a spot in the Independence Bowl,
finishing 6-5-1.
This, the 100th Season of Spartan
Football, has MSU and Saban going to
their second consecutive bowl game, the
Norwest Sun Bowl. Perhaps the greatest
accomplishment this season was made
by a true-freshman, Sedrick Irvin.
Irvin's 1,036 yards were the sixth best
total by a true freshman in Big Ten
history. Irvin also finished the season
with 18 touchdowns, one short of Blake
Ezor's school record. With several
young stars contributing on both sides of
the ball, the future appears promising.
What the future holds, noone knows,
but what is certain is that wherever the
Green and White go, so will their fans.
MSU made the leap onto the 'net this year
and sure enough, flocks of fans have
joined us here on the Internet.
This has been a special year for MSU's
online community.
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Spartan fans from all over the country
come together everyday on the Internet to
celebrate State's accomplishments and
discuss the bright future that certainly lies
ahead. This very moment, these MSU
"Netheads" are organizing a charity fund
to donate Sun Bowl tickets to a children's
charity in El Paso, Texas. A small group
of "Netheads" also travelled to
Minneapolis for the Minnesota game
earlier in the season and a larger group
made it to the Penn State game in Happy
Valley. Without a doubt, MSU fans are
some of the best in the land and also some
of the best people you'll ever meet.
While this season will close the book on
the first century of Spartan Football, other
volumes are bound to be written in the
future; other players are sure to add their
names to the record books; and today's
accomplishments will be tomorrow's
history.
Editors Note: The text for this feature was written by MSU SID staff member Rob Kaminski with
contributions from Trevor Barnes. We've tried to
give you a brief look at our proud tradition, but if you like what you've seen here, you'll love
Spartan Football: 100 Seasons of Gridiron Glory. It is the first complete pictorial history of the
MAC/MSC/MSU football program, by Ken Hoffman, MSU's veteran Sports Information
Director. It is a spectatcular collection of nearly 1,000 photos on 250 pages. This hard-bound,
coffee table quality historical document is destined to be treasured by Spartan families for the next
100 Seasons.
Images and content are © Copyright MSU Athletics
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