Driving down Grand River Avenue in a long, white 1964 Buick Riviera with "Bubba" in black metallic letters on the drivers door side, Michigan State's star player cruised in his pretty sedan in the city of the nation's best football team. This was Bubba Smith. He, with Charlie "Mad Dog" Thornhill, and George Webster -- each of whom were imported from Texas and Louisiana to MSU as black football players who were not allowed to play in the segregated south - would "work" as bouncers at Coral Gables. This was the team, 50 years ago, that won the last national championship for the Michigan State University football program.
A history lesson from 1965: Last time Michigan State won the title
