by Taylor Briese
Charlie Thornhill, popularly known as “Big Dog,” was the best halfback to ever come out of Roanoke’s Lucy Addison High School where he led his 1962 Bulldogs to a record of 8-0-1, a team game average of 29.6 points per game, and rushed for over 1000 yards during his senior year. Despite his achievements on the field, only Notre Dame offered him a college football scholarship. Nevertheless, Thornhill’s accomplishments were recognized locally when he became the first African American winner of the Roanoke Touchdown Club’s “Best Back Award.” At the awards banquet, Charlie’s demeanor and athletic accomplishments impressed Alabama head football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, who approached Thornhill about calling college coaches on Charlie’s behalf. Bryant called Michigan State University’s head football coach Hugh “Duffy” Daugherty, who had a long history recruiting southern African Americans to his northern university and of giving them an opportunity to shine on the football field. Thornhill visited MSU, liked it, and accepted their scholarship offer.
After a year on MSU’s freshman team, Thornhill was switched to linebacker one day during practice, where he became unstoppable and went on to start as a linebacker for most of the next three seasons. Thornhill would meet Notre Dame throughout his college career, with his final game against the Fighting Irish the most storied of these match-ups. This game, the infamous 1966 10-10 tie between Michigan State and Notre Dame, was a battle not just between the two best teams in the country, but also between two different football ideologies on race and integration Notre Dame’s token approach to integration, with only one African American player versus Michigan State’s fully integrated squad. While the game ended in a tie, Roanoke’s Charlie Thornhill led the Michigan State defense and proved integrated collegiate football teams were a force to be reckoned with.
What was Charlie’s life like in Roanoke? What was segregated football during the early 1960’s like in Roanoke? How did the communities of Lucy Addison and the Roanoke Valley shape him into the person he was both on and off of the football field? Taylor Briese is a Roanoke College Senior trying to answer these questions and to take “Big Dog’s” story to a larger audience. Anyone interested in being a part of this project and sharing memories of Charlie “Big Dog” Thornhill and his times, is urged to please email projectthornhill41@gmail.com.
