(Pictured: College Football Hall of Fame coach Duffy Daugherty stands in front of his five 1966 All-Americans, including (from l-r) running back Clinton Jones, fullback Bob Apisa, defensive end Bubba Smith, wide receiver Gene Washington and linebacker George Webster.)
More than a century after
Harriet Tubman led freed slaves from Southern states to the North on the “Underground Railroad,” Michigan State head coach
Duffy Daugherty conducted his own version of the movement in the 1960s to help integrate the game of college football.
The 1984 College Football Hall of Fame inductee put together a recruiting class in 1963 that included three African-American athletes from the South who were denied an opportunity at playing college football in their home states: Charles Aaron “Bubba” Smith of Beaumont, Texas, Gene Washington of La Porte, Texas, and George Webster of Anderson, S.C. Daugherty rounded out the class with Cleveland-native Clinton Jones, an African-American running back out of Notre Dame Cathedral Latin School. The four stars would all graduate together in 1967 as two-time All-Americans and first-round NFL Draft picks, and all four would eventually claim a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame.
“Playing for Duffy changed my life,” Washington said. “I was introduced to inclusion and realized I could make a contribution in an integrated society.”
Jones never though he would end up at Michigan State, revealing that he was set on going to the University of Detroit until the school dropped its football program in 1964. A former coach advised him to check out Michigan State, and Jones said he instantly fell in love with the East Lansing campus.
Like Jones, Smith thought Michigan State was the last place he would end up, having established himself as the top defensive end in the state of Texas. Playing for his father, Willie Ray Smith Sr. at Charlton-Pollard High School in Beaumont, Texas, Bubba dreamed of playing for Hall of Fame coach Darrell Royal at Texas like any other Texan. Eight years before the integration of the Longhorns’ program, Royal told Smith he could offer him a scholarship, but he could not guarantee that he would play. Smith said later in life that the snub fueled him as a player and as a pioneer for African-American football players to come.
Coming to East Lansing was quite a culture shock for Smith, Washington and Webster, and at times it truly tested them. After slipping on a patch of ice during his freshman year, Smith later said he wasn’t sure what he had gotten himself into. They often felt homesick and had issues adjusting to life at Michigan State. Washington came from an under-funded segregated high school, and he was challenged most by the classes. He never once returned to La Porte during his four years in East Lansing.
“We were counseling each other and saying ‘don’t go or don’t leave.’” said Jones. “We came together, and we really never had any issues.”
The assimilation of that recruiting class into the current team and the environment at Michigan State was easier than some expected. Jones said one of his fondest memories in East Lansing was the first team meal for the Spartans. Daugherty took the entire squad 45 minutes southeast of campus to a steakhouse in Marshall, Mich., called Schuler’s. For some, it was the first time they had come close to a five-star meal in their lives. Rich or poor, every Spartan sat in the restaurant in the same team blazer with a beret on, green for defense and grey for offense. It was the sense of togetherness that built Michigan State into a powerhouse during the 1960s.
“Duffy was a great humanitarian,” Jones said. “He was a hospitality person. He instilled unity and pride in us. We would go there as a family. It was a cultural exposure. That’s a gold memory I’ve had all this time.”
Jones, Smith, Washington and Webster each made their debuts as sophomores in 1964, Daugherty’s 11th season at the helm of the Spartans. Despite finishing with a 4-5 record, the season was highlighted with victories over No. 2 USC and No. 10 Purdue. Serving as the backup to First Team All-American Dick Gordon, Jones still racked up 350 rushing yards and four touchdowns and caught a 15-yard touchdown pass. The primary target for quarterback Steve Juday, a 1965 NFF National Scholar-Athlete, Washington caught 35 passes for 542 yards and five touchdowns.
In 1965, Michigan State claimed the school’s first national championship since 1952, despite losing to UCLA in the 1966 Rose Bowl. The Big Ten Champion Spartans entered the bowl game as the No. 1 team with a 10-0 record, including wins over No. 4 Notre Dame, No. 6 Purdue and UCLA in the season opener. In the rematch between the Bruins and Spartans, Hall of Fame quarterback Gary Beban put UCLA on the board first on a quarterback sneak after the Bruins recovered a muffed punt near the goal line. After recovering the ensuing onside kick, Beban ran in a second score to give UCLA a 14-0 lead. Michigan State scored two second-half touchdowns, but they failed both two-point conversions, resulting in the 14-12 loss.
Jones finished the season with 185 carries for 900 rushing yards and 10 scores, along with 27 receptions for 314 yards and two touchdowns. A Second Team All-American, he ranked 10th in the nation in yards from scrimmage (1,214), and he led the Big Ten in rushing touchdowns (10) and touchdowns from scrimmage (12). Washington hauled in 44 passes for 719 yards and four touchdowns, earning Second Team All-America honors. Webster and Smith, who were both named consensus First Team All-America, anchored a Spartan defense that allowed just 47.4 yards per game, holding Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame to negative rushing yards.
The reigning national champions returned to glory in 1966, sharing the title with Notre Dame, after a tie with the No. 1 Fighting Irish in the season finale capped a 9-0-1 season for No. 2 Michigan State. Smith’s jersey number 95 was retired on the 40th anniversary of the Notre Dame game in 2006. A consensus First Team All-American, Jones finished sixth in the 1966 Heisman Trophy voting after running for 784 yards and six touchdowns on 159 carries. Washington caught 27 passes for 677 yards and seven touchdowns, earning First Team All-America honors. Smith and Webster both claimed unanimous First Team All-America honors and led a Michigan State defense that allowed more than 10 points on only two occasions. The 1966 team featured 12 African-American starters, which was unheard of for that era of college football.
"That's what ultimately pushed the Southern schools to recruit black players," Smith told Detroit columnist Drew Sharp in 1993. "They were simply letting too much talent get away from them."
Michigan State set the record for most first-round draft picks in the 1967 NFL Draft, as the four African-American members of that 1963 recruiting class were selected in the first eight picks. Smith went first to the Baltimore Colts, followed by Jones with the second pick by the Minnesota Vikings. Webster was selected fifth by the Houston Oilers, and Washington joined Jones in Minnesota as the eighth pick.
Smith played with the Colts from 1967-71, leading the team to a 16-13 win over the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V. A two-time Pro Bowler in 1970-71, he was named First Team All-Pro in 1971. Following his retirement from the NFL, he began acting in small movie and television roles and is best known for his role as Moses Hightower in the Police Academy movie series. In 1988, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Smith passed away on Aug. 3, 2011, at the age of 66.
A two-time Pro Bowler, Washington played six seasons in Minnesota and one for the Denver Broncos, hauling in 182 career passes for 3,237 yards and 26 touchdowns. A First Team All-Pro selection in 1969, Washington racked up 821 receiving yards and nine touchdowns, both career highs. He earned his master’s in personnel administration from Michigan State in 1972, and spent his post-NFL career as a workforce diversity manager for 3M. Washington was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2011 and currently resides in Plymouth, Minn.
In his rookie season, Webster helped Houston to a division title and led a defense that allowed only 14 points per game. Webster averaged more than 10 tackles per game, and was named the AFL Rookie of the Year. A three-time AFL All-Star in his first three seasons, he was named the All-Star Game MVP in 1968. After his football playing days, Webster served as athletics director of Gulf Coast Community Services in Houston. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987, and he passed away April 19, 2007 at the age of 61.
Jones played six seasons for the Vikings from 1967-72 and one with the San Diego Chargers in 1973, carrying the ball 602 times for 2,178 yards and 20 touchdowns. In 1969, he helped Minnesota to a 12-2 record and an appearance in Super Bowl IV against the Kansas City Chiefs. Jones received his doctorate of chiropractic from the Cleveland Chiropractic College in 1979, and he currently owns and operates a wellness and sports rehabilitation center in Lake Balboa, Calif. He resides in Pacoima, Calif.
The last of the recruiting class of 1963 to enter the College Football Hall of Fame, Jones recently celebrated his induction at the 58th NFF Annual Awards Dinner in 2015. His induction makes the graduating class of 1967 just the fourth class in college football history to produce four Hall of Famers, joining the Notre Dame class of 1924, Stanford class of 1935 and Boston College class of 1940.
“It’s an experience none of us ever really thought about,” said Jones. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams. It’s a complete circle because of not only what we’re given, but the contributions each of us made. It’s very rare.”
Washington’s daughter, Maya, is finishing a film on the four members of the class of 1967, entitled Through the Banks of The Red Cedar. The film is in post-production and should be released this spring.
