Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Through the Banks of the Red Cedar: My Father and the Team That Changed the Game

Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2021

This is an amazing non fiction read. It is well written and put together like a story so it continued to be a page turner for me because I wanted to get to the ending. More importantly, you get to read about the 50's & 60's from an original viewpoint. While I know and understand the history of that era, it was great to learn more about it from the author's view point. I was able to learn some new things, historically, and I want to thank the author for that. I went to a high school in Pasadena. CA from 1964 to 1966. I was in the white minority at that high school as black students were the majority at that time. Jackie Robinson actually graduated from my high school. That is why the info in Maya's book was so significant to me. Thank you.

27 people found this helpful

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Greg V.

Not bad, but not great

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2021

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The story was more about the author than I expected. I has hoping for a lot of anecdotes that would provide insights into the life of black football players in college football and the NFL in the early days and there were a few but not nearly as many as I would have hoped for. Certainly nothing that provided deep insights into the lives of these players. The book as also repetitive using the same comment or story in multiple chapters. It also seemed to be written partially to promote the authors documentary of the same name. There were very few chapters where I wanted to keep turning the pages to see what happened next. Most of the time the book was too easy to put down which is why it took me a week to read it. It's reasonably well written for the content, I just wished there were more substance.

21 people found this helpful

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Scott J Pearson

Personal history about racial integration and the early NFL

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2021

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The author Maya Washington’s father is Gene Washington. (In order not to confuse, I will refer to them in this review by their first names.) Gene was among the first black football players on nationally prominent college and NFL/AFL teams in the 1960s. He grew up in Jim Crow Texas, but played football for Michigan State University. Not only did he help to integrate the sport; he also laid the groundwork for football becoming so central to American culture. In this story, Maya tells his story and his friends’ stories while sharing how she – notably, not an avid sports’ fan before this project – grew closer to Gene throughout this process.

By trade, Maya is not a writer but a filmmaker. This book is preceded in time by a documentary with the same name. (The documentary is being aired privately at the time of this writing in late 2021.) Using the same research, she shares their collective story in a literary format. The book touches on deep themes like racism, economic mobility, family, the need for social dignity, and the rights of athletes to be rewarded for their work.

Gene played with the Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos for several seasons with a career limited by injury. In concert with recent trends, he is being (rightly) acknowledged as among a generation who laid the foundation for integrated college football, for the Minnesota Vikings franchise, and for the early growth of the NFL. Of course, his daughter’s perspective allows his personal side to be brought to light as well, and that thread makes this story especially heartwarming.

This historical tale will appear particularly to football fans and more broadly to all those who yearn for a more just society. Football is a big industry in American society, and aspiring football players can learn through Maya the complexities of its ascent. Female football fans might also appreciate her account, which speaks of feminine roles in this traditionally masculine of sports. Stories and voices like these need to be recorded before this generation of American heroes dies. Their work, courage, and sacrifices have helped us all become better.

13 people found this helpful

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Richard J.

Spartan History and the Challenges Faced By Our Black Spartans.

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2021

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Being a Spartan who's family has attended MSU for over 100 years this book brought back memories and answered many questions regarding the astigmatism of institutional racism. The next generation of my family to, hopefully, attend MSU is of mixed heritage. Due to the trailblazing done by Gene, Bubba, and Maya my family will have the opportunity to attend my Alma Mater. The stories brought to life the people I had admired and who my family were classmates with from 1986 through to 2021. Maya, you made me feel pride as a Spartan and sad as an Amercan who has seen this countries continued racism and impact of historical racism. I hope this book may serve as motivation for my fellow Spartans to stand up and actively fight racism.
I thank you Maya for bringing this labor of love to print. You are a captivating storyteller!

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Jim Lurie

Not just a football book

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2022

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This is a story about more than a football team. It is the story about how that team facilitated, if not forced, the full integration of NCAA football in the face of continuing systemic quotas and, in the South, absolute segregation. To anyone who was around in the mid-sixties, the surface story will be familiar. Washington covers that story, but goes far deeper, tying it to the still-continuing underlying changes in race relations which were to follow.

Her research is deep. But it is not confined to secondary sources. Her father, Gene Washington, was a key member of the Michigan State team along with fellow All-Americans Bubba Smith, Clinton Jones, and George Webster, all of whom were first round selections in the 1967 NFL draft. She had access to these and other players and coaches (and their friends and relatives), making the book almost first person.

Disclosure: I was there, being a 1968 Michigan State grad; none of this story is fictional. A wonderful and important book.

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Sdc

Takes me back

Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2022

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I attended MSU when Gene Washington was playing football there. I also attended another state college for a short time in the south. I was very aware of the differences in the diversity between the two schools at the time. The southern state school had ONE black student ( out of about 15 000 ? ). My large coed dorm at MSU had two Santa Claus's. One black and one white ( meant to be a humorous recognition of integration). This book took me back to that time. I never thought about what it must have been like for those athletes. It was fascinating to read about it.
I also didn't realize that MSU was a pioneer in the integration of sports. The book gave me new information about MSU , Duffy & John Hannah.
There is an inaccurate date ; MSU became MSU in 1955 not 1964 ( 100 years after it began as the first land grant college). A very interesting read spurring a lot of thought .

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Bob Highlander

Could have been really good

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2022

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I love to hear the stories of people who have overcome obstacles and humble beginnings to succeed. The book provides a great story in that regard. The problem I have with the author is that inaccuracies and false statements appear in the latter part of the book that make the reader wonder the factual accuracy of the rest of the book. No, a police officer was not beaten to death at the January 6th riot, and police don't kill more blacks than some "other people." I find it sad that people find their identity first and foremost in their race, which the author clearly does. I find my identity in my creator, who doesn't care about my race at all. This is the world MLK hoped to espouse. With knowledge of our regretful past, let's look forward.

4 people found this helpful

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MVW

Personalized Account of "Jim Crow" in the 1960s affecting outstanding football players

Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2022

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This book is terrific on a couple of levels. First of all, it reminds us of the pernicious effect and human cost of "Jim Crow" as recently as the 1960s - here where the best high school hurdler in Texas, Gene Washington, could not compete in the state high school track meet. Imagine that even in the 1930s a Black track star, Jesse Owns, could dazzle the crowd at the Olympics in Hitler's Germany, but a gifted Black kid 30 years later could not even appear in a high school championship race in Texas.

Washington, and others (most notably Bubba Smith) , were plucked out of the south by a crafty head coach at Michigan State University who was brave enough to field a team comprised of more Black players than one could find at the time outside of the HBCUs. And that collection of magnificent athletes went on to win titles and stardom in the NFL. Their example ultimately opened the doors in places like the bigoted SEC for talented Black players that are so prevalent in the game today.

The other level of enjoyment for me was the love story of a daughter for her father - a daughter who grew up in the north and had a more privileged upbringing than her parents could have had in the segregated South. Daughter Maya Washington in a journey of exploration traces this history in a most skillful and tender way. All in all, a wonderful book!

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Clifford

Interesting but Disappointing Read

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2022

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Sounds contradictory. If you come to this book to read a combination biography/autobiography of two people's lives it is fine and rather interesting. If you come to it expecting to read about some great change created in the playing of American football by Gene Washington, you will be sadly disappointed. As best as I can tell the only significant contribution the Gene made was to help bring about free agency. But that is not a change to the playing of the game. As the author Maya repeatedly described; the people who really changed the game in terms of the acceptance of people of other races were predominantly White people. The coaches. The recruiters. The owners. The college presidents. Even the fans.

Be prepared to read repeatedly--18 times-- that Gene was born and grew up in the Democrat-created (my words; not Maya's) Jim Crow South. How racist it was. How oppressive it was. It becomes annoying. Once or twice is fine. But we the readers are not stupid and don't need to be reminded over and over. It is almost like she was writing a school paper and trying to get to a certain number of words.

Finally, I had to shake my head at what seemed to be a whine about how "little" Gene was paid by the teams. From $25K to $35K; at a time when my father was earning between $2K and $4K per year. In today's money those would have been $179K to $251K and $14K to $28K. Not a shabby wage for Gene even today. Sure, it does not compare real well to the millions players can make now. But then that was a different time. The phrase that went through my head was "poor little rich kid".

I didn't care for the woke politics injected into the book. To keep complaining about racism all over the place when your and your father's lives demonstrate how far minorities can go; even from humble beginnings; sounds kind of hollow.

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Judy

MSU alumni

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2022

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I read this book because I was curious and I was there. As an MSU freshman in 1964, I worked in the Wonders Hall cafeteria and my very first day on the job, I was told to go and serve dinner at the training table. What a thrill to dish out mashed potatoes to the Spartan football team! I lived in Wonders Hall and saw many of the football players daily. Gene Washington always stood out in my memory for his big smile and gentle and kind demeanor. But here’s the weird thing. I was a little white girl from an all white community, living in a bubble. I knew nothing about Jim Crow or the black experience in southern towns or any towns. As college students, we rarely watched TV or listened to the news. I wasn’t even aware that Duffy Daurgherty was making football history by recruiting black players. I just knew that football was what you did on Saturday and we loved our Spartan team. I can appreciate Maya’s hard work, researching this story , and rekindling a connection with her father. I look forward to watching the documentary and I thank her for the enlightenment she has provided.

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5 star		55%
4 star		25%
3 star		14%
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