Big Ten Network to air documentary about integration of college football

“Through the Banks of the Red Cedar ” is a film about the firstfully integrated college football team in America. Big Ten Network will air the award-winningfilm that highlights Michigan State University head football coach Duffy Daugherty ’s innovativerecruitment strategy: scouting the best Black football talent from the Jim Crow South to build apowerhouse football program that looked demographically closer to the teams we see on thefield today than any other historically white institution in the 1960s. It was an unprecedentedmove that changed the sport of football and opened doors for athletes of all ethnicbackgrounds today.

With the support of Michigan State president John A. Hannah, Duffy Daugherty usedsegregation to his advantage in what sports writers have deemed the Underground Railroad ofcollege football from the 1940s-1960s. It was a game-changing approach to recruiting that paidoff for the Spartans at the peak of the Civil Rights Movement. The 1965 Spartans made anappearance in the Rose Bowl after an undefeated season, and the undefeated 1966 teamplayed in the ‘game of the century’ against Notre Dame, which famously ended in a 10-10 tie.Daugherty’s Spartans won back-to-back Big Ten titles and were named national champions twoyears in a row.

“Through the Banks of the Red Cedar” was truly a passion project for filmmaker Maya Washington. Her father, former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Gene Washington, wasrecruited from La Porte, Texas, to play football for the Spartans on a track scholarship in 1963.Gene played alongside fellow College Football Hall of Famers Bubba Smith, George Websterand Clinton Jones on the highly decorated 1965 and 1966 MSU football teams. They madehistory when all four Spartans were drafted in the first-round, within the top eight picks, in the1967 draft.

“Making this film was not only an opportunity to illuminate the struggles that Black athletes inAmerica faced in the ‘60s, it was also a journey to better appreciate the sacrifices my dad andso many others made for the sport. Anything Black athletes have achieved today is on theshoulders of the early pioneers from my dad's generation and before,” said Maya Washington.“The impact that my father and his teammates had at Michigan State, and later with theVikings, still lives on today.”

“The Michigan State football teams of the 1960s brought together individuals from differentraces to win national championships. It’s something we take for granted today, but it was agroundbreaking strategy that has permanently changed college football,” said MSU athleticdirector Bill Beekman. “We’ve shown ‘Through the Banks of the Red Cedar’ to our team andused it to launch important discussions about race, both in sports and beyond. I’d encourage allfootball fans to watch this important film, not only to learn about our important history and themen who took a risk to change football, but also to spark further thought about race in Americatoday.”The award-winning film has been making its way through the festival circuit, first premiering atthe Detroit Free Press Freep Film Festival, and it has been a go-to for universities and scholarlycommunities since 2018 as a catalyst for intergenerational conversations about race and sports.The Big Ten Network broadcast premiere of this film comes at a time when families in Americaare looking for ways to think deeply about racial justice and consider how what happened 50years ago is still relevant today.

“The Big Ten Network is honored to present the broadcast premiere of ‘Through the Banks ofthe Red Cedar,’” said Bill Friedman, senior coordinating producer of B1G Network Originals.“The story of Gene Washington and his trailblazing Michigan State teammates in themid-1960’s is inspiring, and one that all fans of Big Ten football should know and appreciate.Their courage and unbreakable bond changed both the sport and society.”

Big Ten Network will debut “Through the Banks of the Red Cedar” at 8 p.m.EST on Nov. 10. The network plans to air the film two more times before the end of 2020.