Contact the author directly to purchase the book & ebooks

One Hundred Ten Years Running on the Banks of the Red Cedar

A Social History of Michigan State University Cross Country

Contents by Volume

Volume One

(537 pages) covers the 1907 through 1946 seasons set in the context of two world wars and the Great Depression. It documents five unofficial national championships won in New York City between 1933 and 1937 and an NCAA championship won in 1939, as well as Michigan State’s central (solo) role in developing and hosting the NCAA Cross Country Championship from 1938 through 1964. It also includes interlude conversations featuring hundreds of athletes regarding how the got into running and competitive sports. Volume One features interesting program connections with, among others, Theodore Roosevelt, Chester Brewer, the NCIS TV series, Grantland Rice, Paavo Nurmi, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and John Hannah.

View Ebook

Volume Two

 (546 pages) covers the 1947 through 1976 men’s seasons set in the context of the Korean and Vietnam wars, and the Civil Rights movement. It documents seven NCAA championships earned between 1948 and 1959, and 14 Big Ten titles won from 1951 to 1971. It also includes interlude conversations featuring topics related to living and running at Michigan State – favorite campus places and spaces, hometown origins, varying athletic and academic paths to MSU, and social lives of student-athletes. Volume two features interesting program connections with, among others, Adidas Corp. the Distinguished Flying Cross, Biggie Munn, Ed Sullivan, Paul Stookey, John F. Kennedy, the Warren Commission, Bill Rogers & Steve Prefontaine. 

View Ebook

Volume Three

(590 pages) covers the 1974 women’s and 1977 men’s through the 2003 seasons set in the context of Title IX legislation, the rise and fall of the AIAW, America’s first running boom, the dawning of the digital age and 9-11. It documents MSU’s pioneering efforts in women’s cross country, MSU’s first women’s Big Ten champion teams and the men’s program’s fall from and return to conference and national relevance. It also includes interlude conversations featuring topics related to living and running at Michigan State – team building, varsity sport hierarchy, always in season, and cross country fashion. Volume Three features program connections with, among others, Nell Jackson, Roy Rogers, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Shorter, Suzy Favor, and Churchill scholarships. 

View Ebook

Volume Four

(598 pages) covers the 2004 through 2019 men’s and women’s seasons set in the context of an unfolding climate change debate and an increasingly polarized American political landscape. It documents five Big Ten championships, seven NCAA Regional championships and MSU’s first women’s NCAA championship in any sport. It also includes interlude conversations featuring hundreds of program alumni discussing post-collegiate running and physical activity. In addition, it includes post-collegiate bio information for over 1,000 program alumni. Volume Four features interesting program connections with, among others, Eric Liddell, the Beach Boys, Ryan Shay, Nike Corp., the Manhattan Project, Sufjan Stevens, the Emmy’s and the Academy Awards.

View Ebook

Volume Five

(381 pages) covers the 2020 through 2021 men’s and women’s seasons set in the context of COVID 19 lockdowns, a violently contested presidential election, and a rapidly evolving NCAA landscape. It documents another Spartan Big Ten championship and top four NCAA finish. This volume also includes interlude conversations featuring intergenerational ties and coaching accomplishments, and three distinct indices (including the All-Time MSU Cross Country Roster) covering the entire book set. Volume Five features interesting program connections with, among others, the Gunsmoke TV series, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Toshiko d’Elia and Jimmy Carter.

View Ebook

Book Set Contents

A central thesis of this five-volume book set is that Michigan State was integral in establishing and shaping intercollegiate cross country competitions in the United States. Michigan State played the dominant role in nationalizing men’s intercollegiate cross country and a key role in establishing women’s cross country. This book endeavors to tell the story of every race comprising Michigan State University’s long and proud cross country history. In addition to focusing on great teams, athletes and coaches, the goal is to produce a history filled with human interest stories and some sense of the role that running played prior to athletes’ college careers, during their time at MSU and (for most) after they left campus. The book set includes 20 history-focused chapters and 18 social science-focused interludes. Distinctions between the history-focused and social science components are permeable.
The book set contains race-by-race accounts dating from 1907 through 2021. Because sport does not occur in a vacuum, these stories are infused with notes of broader historic and social interest. Often that broader coverage is included to provide context for the lived experiences of athletes and coaches, but a number of intersections and interactions are explored wherein team members play important roles in challenging societal norms related to race, gender, physical activity participation over the lifespan; as well as through the Great Depression, in wartime (20 MSU cross country alums died in wars spanning WWI through Korea), and other major nationally significant events including the aftermath of JFK’s assassination and the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal. Because cross country is, more than any other intercollegiate sport, set within natural and built outdoor environments, place attachment also emerged as a dominant theme. In fact, for its first 50 years, Michigan State’s courses traversed the built portion of campus. With respect to experiential aspects of distance running, over a third of the book set is focused on social science rather than history per se, and hundreds of voices are heard via survey and interview responses. While generally a “happy” story, these volumes do not shy away from confronting controversial topics. As a result of the just-described breadth and depth of coverage, it is longer than most books on this topic.