The 1952 Michigan State Spartans football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Michigan State College Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

as an independent during the

1952 college football season The 1952 college football season ended with the unbeaten Michigan State Spartans (9–0) and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (12–0) each claiming a national championship from different polls. Michigan State finished first according to two of the "w ...

. In their sixth year under head coach Clarence "Biggie" Munn, the Spartans recorded a perfect 9–0 record, outscored opponents by a total of 312 to 84, and was recognized as the 1952 national champion. The season was part of a 28-game winning streak that began in October 1950 and continued until October 1953. In the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

released on December 1, 1952, Michigan State was ranked No. 1 with 2,683 points, more than 400 points ahead of No. 2

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

. The Spartans also finished with the No. 1 ranking the in the final UPI coaches poll. The team was also recognized as the 1952 national champion in later analyses issued by the

Boand System The Boand System was a system for determining the college football national championship. It was also known as the Azzi Ratem system (derived from "As I rate 'em"). The system was developed by William F. Boand. The rankings were based on mathemati ...

DeVold System A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best co ...

Dunkel System The Dunkel System, also known as the Dunkel College Football Index, is a college football rating system developed in 1929 by Richard C. "Dick" Dunkel, Sr. (1906–1975), to determine a national champion. Dunkel rated college football teams from 192 ...

College Football Researchers Association The College Football Researchers Association (CFRA) was founded in 1982 by Anthony Cusher of Reeder, North Dakota, and Robert Kirlin of Spokane, Washington. The CFRA took a vote of its members from 1982 to 1992 to select an annual college football n ...

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...

Litkenhous A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best coll ...

National Championship Foundation The National Championship Foundation (NCF) was established by Mike Riter of Hudson, New York. The NCF retroactively selected college football national champions for each year from 1869 to 1979, and its selections are among the historic national ch ...

Sagarin Ratings Jeff Sagarin is an American sports statistician known for his development of a method for ranking and rating sports teams in a variety of sports. His ratings have been a regular feature in the ''USA Today'' sports section since 1985, have been use ...

, and

Williamson System The Williamson System was a mathematical system used to rank college football teams. The system was created by Paul B. Williamson, a geologist and member of the Sugar Bowl committee. The NCAA college football records book includes the Williamson Sy ...

. It was Michigan State's first consensus national championship. Five other selectors chose

as national champion. It was also Michigan State's last year as a football independent, as the Spartans became a football member of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

in 1953. Four Michigan State players were recognized on the 1952 All-America college football team: back Don McAuliffe (first-team honors from the

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

, All-America Board, and ''Collier's''); center

Dick Tamburo Richard Pfeiffer Tamburo (February 6, 1930 – February 24, 2020) was an American football player and athletic coach and administrator. A native of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, he played college football for the Michigan State Spartans football ...

(first-team honors from the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

Central Press Association The Central Press Association was American newspaper syndication company based in Cleveland, Ohio. It was in business from 1910 to 1971. Originally independent, it was a subsidiary of King Features Syndicate from 1930 onwards. At its peak, the ...

, and

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

); guard

Frank Kush Frank Joseph Kush (January 20, 1929 – June 22, 2017) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Arizona State University from 1958 to 1979, compiling a record of 176–54–1. Kush was also the head coach of the ...

(first-team honors from the Associated Press); and end Ed Luke (second-team honors from the Associated Press). The team's statistical leaders included quarterback

Tom Yewcic Thomas J. Yewcic (May 9, 1932 – October 21, 2020) was an American football quarterback and punter and Major League Baseball player. He attended Michigan State University. In football, he played from 1961 to 1966 with the Boston Patriots of th ...

with 941 passing yards, halfback

Billy Wells William Thomas Wells, better known as Bombardier Billy Wells (31 August 1889 – 12 June 1967), was an English heavyweight boxer. Fighting under the name "Bombardier Billy Wells", he was British and British Empire Champion from 1911 un ...

with 585 rushing yards, end Ellis Duckett with 323 receiving yards, and halfbacks Don McAuliffe and Leroy Bolden with 54 points each.

Schedule

Personnel

Roster

* Howard Adams, guard * Wayne Benson, fullback * Alex Bleahu, tackle * Doug Bobo, end * Leroy Bolden, halfback * Leo Boyd, halfback * Bob Breniff, guard *

Hank Bullough Henry Charles Bullough (January 24, 1934 – November 24, 2019) was an American football player and coach. He played college football at Michigan State and graduated in 1954. Bullough was a starting guard for the Spartans team that won the 19 ...

, guard * Rex Corless, halfback * Don Cutler, tackle * Paul Dekker, end * Don Dohoney, end *

Rollie Dotsch Roland Daniel Dotsch (February 14, 1933 – March 16, 1988) was an American football coach who served primarily in an assistant capacity before becoming the first coach of the United States Football League's Birmingham Stallions on September 2, 1 ...

, guard/tackle * Ellis Duckett, end * Jim Ellis, safety *

Chuck Fairbanks Charles Leo Fairbanks (June 10, 1933 – April 2, 2013) was a football coach who was a head coach at the high school, college and professional levels. He served as the head coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1967 to 1972 and at the Universi ...

* Larry Fowler, tackle * Al Fracassa, quarterback * Chuck Frank, tackle * Don Kauth, end * Joe Klein, tackle *

, guard * Gene Lekenta, fullback * Ed Luke, end * Don McAuliffe, halfback * Jack Morgan, tackle * Morley Murphy, tackle * Jim Neal, center * Dick Panin, fullback * Vince Pisano, halfback * Bill Quinlin, end * Don Schiesswohl, guard * Gordon Serr, guard * Evan Slonac, fullback *

, center *

Willie Thrower Willie Lee Thrower (March 22, 1930 – February 20, 2002) was an American football quarterback. Born near Pittsburgh in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, Thrower was known as "Mitts" because of his large hands and arm strength, which stood in contras ...

, quarterback * Ed Timmerman, fullback * Ray Vogt, halfback *

Doug Weaver Douglas W. Weaver (born October 15, 1930) is a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1960 to 1966 and at Southern Illinois University Carb ...

, center *

, halfback * John Wilson, halfback * Johnny Wilson, quarterback *

, quarterback *

Bert Zagers Bert Aldon Zagers (January 30, 1933 – September 2, 1992) was an American football player who played Halfback (American football), halfback and defensive back for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). Early life Zage ...

, halfback

Coaching staff

* Head coach - Clarence "Biggie" Munn * Assistant coaches -

Duffy Daugherty Hugh Duffy Daugherty (September 8, 1915 – September 25, 1987) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Michigan State University from 1954 to 1972, compiling a record of 109–69–5. His 1965 and 1966 teams won ...

Dan Devine Daniel John Devine (December 23, 1924 – May 9, 2002) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Arizona State University from 1955 to 1957, the University of Missouri from 1958 to 1970, and the Univers ...

Earle Edwards Earle Edwards (November 10, 1908 – February 25, 1997) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at North Carolina State University from 1954 to 1970, compiling a record of 77–88–8. Edwards is the longes ...

Dewey King DeWayne "Dewey" King (October 1, 1925 – April 13, 2021) was a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at San Jose State University from 1970 to 1972 and at Wheaton Colleg ...

Steve Sebo Stephen Sebo (July 15, 1914 – December 10, 1989) was an American football and baseball player, coach, college athletics administrator, and professional sports executive. He played baseball and football at Michigan State University, from which he ...

1953 NFL Draft

References

{{College Football National Champion navbox

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

Michigan State Spartans football seasons College football national champions College football undefeated seasons

Michigan State Spartans football The Michigan State Spartans football program represents Michigan State University (MSU) in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. The Spartans are members of the Big Ten Conference. Michigan State claims a ...