In 1963 Michigan State Head Coach Duffy Daugherty and 23 African American young men seized the opportunity of a lifetime. Maya Washington, the daughter of Minnesota Vikings football legend Gene Washington, deepens her connection to her father as she uncovers how the first fully integrated college football team in America changed the game forever.
In 1963 Michigan State Head Coach Duffy Daugherty and 23 African American young men seized the opportunity of a lifetime. The daughter of Minnesota Vikings football legend Gene Washington deepens her connection to her father as she uncovers how the first fully integrated college football team in America changed the game forever. Maya, Gene’s youngest daughter, traces her father's journey from the segregated South to the North, and explores the impact of this legacy on the present generation.
Over the course of a modern football season, Maya uncovers both the triumphs and defeats of her father's teams and develops a newly formed appreciation for the game and a deeper connection to her father, just in time to witness MSU Spartan Football team ascend to national prominence 50 years later.
The racial demographics seen on the field today are due in large part to Hall of Fame coach Duffy Daugherty’s innovative approach to recruiting African American men from the South to MSU in the 1960s, known as the “Underground Railroad” of college football. The success of MSU’s 1965 and 1966 back-to-back Big Ten and National Champion teams forces America to re-think prejudices that previously kept African American players from earning scholarships or starting positions. Gene Washington later makes pro-football history alongside Spartan teammates Bubba Smith, Clinton Jones, and George Webster when they are selected in the first round, within the top eight picks of the 1967 draft.
Maya Washington is an award-winning narrative and documentary filmmaker (writer/director/producer), actress, writer, poet, creative director, and arts educator. Her award-winning film, "Through the Banks of the Red Cedar, " about her father Vikings Legend Gene Washington and the desegregation of college football aired on the Big Ten Network and is currently available on PBS platforms including PBS Documentaries Channel through Amazon Prime, Comcast, and iTunes. Her memoir, "Through the Banks of the Red Cedar: My Father and the Team that Changed the Game," is an Amazon Editor's Pick for Best History. Her award winning-film "CLEAR", about a family reconnecting in the aftermath of wrongful conviction is available on the streaming platforms Argo and Kwelitv. As a freelance tv and film director, Maya directed episodes of the Fox series The Killer Next Door and History Channel’s "I Was There", and the PBS Kids series "Black SciGirls". Her narrative short, "White Space", (starring ABC Family Switched at Birth’s Ryan Lane) about a deaf performance poet aired on network television and was nominated for a Black Reel Award. Maya Washington’s commercial work includes Best Buy, Target, The National Society of Leadership and Success and others. Maya is a member of the Global Impact Producers Alliance (GIPA) and has brought films, books, and art experiences to audiences worldwide. She wrote the forthcoming discussion guide for American Documentary's film, "A New Kind of Wilderness" from director Silje Evensmo Jacobsen, on POV in Fall 2025. Maya has served as a Jury member of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival and Board Member of FilmNorth. In 2025 Maya was a featured panelist at SXSW, Black Sports Business Symposium, and USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
Big Ten Network 2020
