9Michigan State University's football history is overflowing with famous, interesting, and colorful figures. From Gideon "Charlie" Smith, who in 1913 became one of the nation's first black collegiate players, to George Webster, the "Greatest Spartan of All Time," to Morton Andersen, who still holds the Big Ten record for longest field goal-they are all Spartans. Earl Morrall, Bubba Smith, Lorenzo White... the list goes on. Added to this list of tremendous players are legendary coaches like the "Biggie" Munn and Duffy Dougherty. And who could forget the famous 10-10 tie with Notre Dame in 1966 or the Rose Bowl victory over Southern Cal in 1987?

Spartan tradition is more than the coaches and players on the field, however, and Michigan State Football: They Are Spartans offers many rare images and long-forgotten anecdotes about how the program became a player on the national stage. The early days as a farm college team, the development into a football power as an independent, the successful struggle to join the Big Ten conference, and of course, the historic rivalry with a certain team from Ann Arbor are all recounted in the pages of this book.