Tom Shanahan Library: The Right Thing to Do and Raye of Light
Our Black Friday / Small Business Saturday / Cyber Monday special: A discounted bundle of The Right Thing to Do: The True Pioneers of College Football Integration and Raye of Light: Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, The Integration of College Football, and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans. From award-winning journalist Tom Shanahan, both titles confront the lingering issues of race in both college football and America.
In Raye of Light, the tale is told through the experience of Jimmy Raye. When the Fayetteville, N.C. native enrolled at Michigan State University in 1964, he did more than just enroll in a university hundreds of miles from home, he pioneered as Michigan State’s first Black starting quarterback and the first Black quarterback from the South to win a national title. History has not accorded Coach Duffy Daugherty, Raye, and the Spartans--including notable players like George Webster and Bubba Smith--proper credit for their roles in the integration of college football. In Raye of Light, Shanahan tells the story of how Daugherty integrated his Spartan teams in a time when leading college programs like the University of Alabama were still segregated, when it was unusual to see Black athletes at skill positions like quarterback, and when choices for outstanding Southern black athletes were either traditionally Black colleges or northern colleges opening their doors to nationwide recruits.
In The Right Thing to Do, Shanahan takes a broader view and addresses the official racial quota system in the 1960s college football world and the “Conspiracy of Silence” in the sports press, avoiding any mention of racial politics. That racial quota system was challenged by pioneers of the game, including SMU’s Jerry LeVias, the first Black scholarship player in the Southwest Conference; Houston’s Warren McVea, the first Black player to sign with a major Texas college; Wake Forest’s Bob Grant and Kenneth “Butch” Henry, the first Black scholarship players in a major Southern conference; and Gary Steele, West Point’s first Black football letterman.
“Tom Shanahan has always been ahead of the curve when it does to writing about race relations in sport—dating to the great, integrated Duffy Daugherty teams of the 1960s. The Right Thing to Do is another example his unique ability to go inside stories that need to be told in rich detail.”
—John Feinstein, best-selling author of 44 books, most recently Raise a Fist, Take a Knee
Award-winning author Tom Shanahan is a veteran sportswriter specializing in college football and, specifically, the integration of college football in the 1960s. He’s also written for NFL.com, Chargers.com, MLB.com, Rivals.com and the National Football Foundation’s Football Matters. His dedication to increasing awareness of college football integration’s true 1960s pioneers led to a 2022 First Place Award in Enterprise Writing from the Football Writers Association of America. His deeply researched article covered the 1962 Rose Bowl, when UCLA’s eight Black players and Los Angeles Times sportswriter Jim Murray stood up to segregationist Alabama coach Bear Bryant seeking a backdoor entry into the Rose Bowl in place of the traditional Big Ten entry.
Both titles are available in this limited-time bundle for $34.95. That's a discount of almost $7 off standard retail. These are great reads for any football fan or any aficionado of American history both on and off the gridiron.