2015 MSU Athletics Hall of Fame Class: Doug Weaver
9/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | General

Michigan State will induct six new members into its Athletics Hall of Fame on Thursday, Sept. 17. In the third of a six-part series this week on msuspartans.com, online columnist Steve Grinczel profiles former athletic director and football letterwinner Doug Weaver.
Talking to Doug Weaver is like opening a time capsule that was carefully stored in the cornerstone of the Michigan State athletic department.
Inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame this year, Weaver at some point played alongside, worked for, worked with, supervised, hired, oversaw in an official capacity or met socially most of his fellow HOF members.
Weaver may be best known for successfully presiding over Spartan sports as athletic director from 1980 until he retired in 1990. However, he also deserves credit as an undersized, hard-nosed, overachieving player who helped create the template for success used to this day by MSU football coach Mark Dantonio.
"I still remember the day my mom and dad dropped me off at the Quonset Village where the Breslin Center is now and my group was the first to move into West Shaw Hall," Weaver said from his home in Stillwater, Oklahoma. "I played, I'm proud of that, I'm really proud of my teammates and what we accomplished and I'm really proud of all the people I worked with when I was athletic director.
"Michigan State has been my whole life. The diploma on my wall is from Michigan State College, so I'm an old-timer. What it means to me is everything."
After transferring from Yale, Weaver joined the Spartans as a walk-on who played from 1950-52 for coaching legend Biggie Munn as Michigan State College transitioned from an independent national powerhouse into the newest member of the Big Ten.
As a diminutive linebacker, Weaver had a knack for being in the right place at the right time on Michigan State's '51 and '52 national championship teams that posted back-to-back 9-0 records.
"When I was a sophomore, we beat Notre Dame for the first time in 32 years," said Weaver, a favorite son of Goshen, Indiana. "I intercepted a pass thrown by (Fighting Irish quarterback) Bob Williams that was meant for Jim Mutscheller, who was later a great pro. I've got a picture of it and it's funny because it looks like I'm taking the ball away from him even though he was much bigger than I was.
"Later, Jim King, who was a great player for us, blocked a kick and I recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown. I played with a bunch of great players and I was just a journeyman, but that's one I remember particularly because it was so close to my hometown."
![]() | ![]() ![]() "Michigan State has been my whole life. The diploma on my wall is from Michigan State College, so I'm an old-timer. What it means to me is everything." -Doug Weaver ![]() ![]() |
In the sixth game of Weaver's senior season, Purdue was driving for what would have been a late game-tying touchdown that could have ruined Michigan State's perfect record.
"I intercepted a pass thrown by Dale Samuels, who went on to be an administrator at Purdue," recalled Weaver. "I used to see him all the time and he always gave me heck about that because I was so short and he was a great player and knew I was a journeyman."
Weaver's opportunism didn't miss a beat in his social, family and professional life.
Weaver met his wife, Nancy, at a class in Berkey Hall thanks in part to Prof. Jack Waite.
"I was an English major, and my adviser, Jake Waite, said, ‘You know Doug, you haven't taken this survey course in English literature that sophomores take and is a requirement for graduation,'" Weaver remembered. "So I said, ‘Well Jack, I took advanced courses in all that stuff, I'll do it but I'm not going to go to class; I'll just take the final.'
"I walk in on the first day and there's Nancy Doty from (Detroit) Cooley High School. Holy smokes, I went to every class after that. We've been married 62 years."
Given the time and effort she devoted to MSU athletics at Weaver's side, Nancy probably deserves her own plaque, he said.
"She's been by my side doing everything with me all her life," Weaver said. "She is everything to me."
Weaver worked as a Michigan State assistant coach under Duffy Daugherty from 1956-57 before bouncing around the nation in various capacities as: an assistant coach at Missouri for two years ('58-59); head coach at Kansas State ('60-66); assistant coach at Kansas where he also earned his law degree ('67-69); defensive coordinator at UCLA ('71); athletic director ('73) and head football coach ('74-75) at Southern Illinois; and athletic director at Georgia Tech ('76-80).
Weaver jumped at the chance to return to his alma mater in 1980 when then-MSU athletic director Joe Kearney left for Arizona State. The irony of going from once practicing football on the dirt floor in Jenison Field House to working in the office occupied by Munn, as A.D. from '54-71, on the other side of the building was never lost on Weaver.
"I thought about that every day," he said. "That was a great time."
During his tenure as A.D. at MSU, Weaver helped move the athletic department into the modern era from team and facilities standpoints. Ron Mason's hockey team won the National Championship in 1986. Weaver hired George Perles as the Spartans' football coach in '82 and MSU won the Big Ten Championship and Rose Bowl during the '87 season. Jud Heathcote led the Michigan State basketball team to three NCAA Tournament appearances and advanced to the Sweet 16 in '86 and '90.
The relationships Weaver forged endure, and Mason, Perles and Heathcote, who he talks to most every Sunday night, remain among his closest friends.
"I used the old line that the most important thing I learned is, leave the woodpile higher than you found it, and I think I did," Weaver said. "Ron Mason and the hockey through that period was just sensational. Jud had great teams and George's teams were terrific, went to lots of bowls.
"But also, the other coaches. (Former women's golf coach) Mary Fossum was one of my closest confidants and I respected her judgment. Gene Kenney, my assistant, was a great guy. I think of people like Dee Strong in the ticket office and Bert Boyko, the assistant athletic director for business, they did everything. I was a mediocre guy from Goshen and they kept me afloat. Working for Cecil Mackey was a great experience and I hope everybody knows that he was one of (MSU's) great presidents."
The Duffy Daugherty Football Building opened one of the nation's first indoor practice facilities in 1985, which is still affectionately known as "The Weave," and the men's and women's basketball program moved into the $43 million Breslin Student Events Center in '89.
Weaver is amazed at the innovative developments that have taken place at MSU under current athletic director Mark Hollis, and yet, can relate to the job he is tasked with doing.
"He's the best athletic director in the country and what he's done has been terrific," said Weaver. "Having said that, the budget issue is the same; you have to make more money than you spend. All those things, playing hockey outdoors and basketball on an aircraft carrier, all those things are sensational.
"But the fundamentals are the same. It's like the game â€" they pass it more now and the guys are bigger and faster, but a lot of what they do is the same as what it used to be. Traveling all over the United States representing the green and white is as good as it gets."