Eastern Michigan University Football: Notable Alumni

Eastern Michigan University (EMU) has a rich history and tradition in collegiate athletics, particularly in football. Over the years, numerous talented individuals have donned the Eastern Michigan Eagles jersey and gone on to achieve remarkable success in professional sports, entertainment, politics, and various other fields. This article highlights some of the most notable alumni who have emerged from the Eastern Michigan University football program.

Academic Standing of Eastern Michigan University

EduRank places Eastern Michigan University at 776th globally, 287th in North America, and 266th in the United States, based on the aggregated prominence of its alumni. This ranking underscores the institution's ability to produce successful graduates across diverse fields.

Football Program History at Eastern Michigan University

Since 1891, Eastern Michigan University has compiled an all-time record of 490-622-47, fielding a team in each year except 1944. The team has achieved five undefeated seasons, in 1906, 1925, 1927, 1943 (holding opponents scoreless), and 1945. The team saw its greatest period of success from 1925 through 1939 under head coach Elton Rynearson, for whom their home field, Rynearson Stadium, is named.

Michigan State Normal School first fielded a football team in 1891. Initially, the team had no official nickname, being known variously as the "Normalites" or the "Men from Ypsi". From 1892 to 1926, the team competed in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, winning conference championships in 1896 and 1925.

After playing football for three years at the University of Michigan, including being on the undefeated 1898 Michigan Wolverines football team that won the university's first Western Conference championship, Clayton Teetzel traveled six miles east to Ypsilanti, where he became the first person to coach the Michigan State Normal College football team for more than one year.

Following the smallpox-shortened 1916 season, Elton Rynearson was hired to replace Elmer Mitchell. Although Rynearson's offense was more effective, outscoring opponents 111 to 82, more than half of the scoring came in a single game, a 63-0 rout of Central Michigan, and the team ended the season with a 3-4 record. After the shortened 3-game 1918 season was coached by Lynn Bell, Rynearson returned to coach the 1919 squad to their first winning season in four years.

Rynearson's return in 1925 sparked the most successful period in school history. From 1925 through 1930, the team achieved a 40-4-2 record, including perfect seasons in 1925 and 1927. From 1925 through 1927 they outscored opponents 405 points to 31 and registered 19 shutouts. They won the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championship in 1925, and won the Michigan Collegiate Conference championships in 1927, 1928, 1929, and 1930.

In 1929, the Michigan State Normal College Men's Union sponsored a contest to determine a nickname. A three-person committee chose "Hurons" from the contest entries; the runner-up name was "Pioneers". The name Hurons was submitted by Gretchen Borst and George Hanner, both MSNC students.

Although less dominant, Rynearson's teams continued to have success throughout the 1930s, never having a losing season until the teams of 1940 and 1941 combined for a 2-10-3 record. The 1943 and 1945 teams (there was no team in 1944) were again successful, combining for a 7-0-1 record. However, following the end of World War II, Rynearson's teams again struggled, and he ended his coaching career on a streak of three losing seasons from 1946 through 1948.

His 26 seasons as head coach are double those of the next-longest serving coach, Fred Trosko, and no Eastern Michigan University football coach has reached even half of Rynearson's win total of 114 games. Following Rynearson's retirement in 1948, Harry Ockerman was the head coach for three undistinguished years, in which he compiled a 7-19-0 record, including a winless first season.

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For the 1952 season, Fred Trosko was hired as head coach, and over the next several seasons the team improved markedly, attaining a 7-1-1 record in 1953, an 8-1-0 record in 1954, and a 7-2-0 record in 1955. The team was not able to sustain the success, however, and for the remained of his thirteen seasons Trosko's teams struggled, finishing two consecutive seasons winless (1960 and 1961, both 0-8-1), and only managing two additional winning seasons, going 6-3-0 in 1957 and 4-3-0 in 1964, Trosko's final year.

In July 1952, Fred Trosko was hired as head football coach at Michigan State Normal College. Trosko had been a star college running back at Michigan under head coach Fritz Crisler. The team improved markedly during Trosko's early years as head coach. In his first seven seasons, the team attained a record of 41-19-2, including a 7-1-1 record in 1953 and an 8-1-0 record in 1954. His teams won Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference ("IIAC") championships in 1954 and 1957.

The team's success came to an abrupt end in 1959. Trosko's teams had a 29-game winless streak (0-27-2) starting with the third game of the 1959 season and continuing through the fifth game of the 1962 season. The precipitous decline followed the decision of the Eastern Michigan administration not to follow an IIAC policy that allowed member schools to award scholarships. Competing with non-scholarship athletes against conference schools with scholarship athletes, Trosko's Eastern Michigan teams were unable to compete.

In August 1965, Trosko announced his resignation as the school's head football coach, and it was reported that the resignation was the result of "an apparent break with school administrators over policy." Trosko had the second longest tenure of any head coach at the school. He also taught at Eastern Michigan and remained on the faculty at Eastern Michigan after retiring as football coach. He ultimately retired in 1981 as a professor emeritus. In 1982, he was inducted into the Eastern Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.

Jerry Raymond was the head football coach of the Hurons for the 1965 and 1966 seasons, and his coaching record at the school was 8 wins, 7 losses and 2 ties. As of the conclusion of the 2010 season, this ranks him No. 12 at Eastern Michigan in total wins and No.

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In July 1967, Dan Boisture was hired as head coach at Eastern Michigan University. He later commented that he was willing to go to a smaller school, saying, "There weren't many jobs open…Joan and I looked at the campus. It was a cute campus." Under his leadership, the team produced the longest period of sustained success since Elton Rynearson's days. The team posted winning seasons in all seven years of Boisture's coaching, including a 13-game winning streak that remains a school record.

His 1971 squad finished the regular season 7-0-2, only allowing one touchdown in the last five games, before losing to Louisiana Tech in the Pioneer Bowl, the first bowl trip in school history. Boisture was named NCAA District Four "coach of the year" in 1971.

Boisture's tenure at Eastern Michigan is also notable for the construction of Rynearson Stadium. Boisture's teams played their first two seasons at the old field, near the corner of Oakwood and Washtenaw, just west of McKenny Union. In 1969, the new stadium, which was considered off-campus at the time, opened with a capacity of 15,500. Boisture's bowl-bound 1971 team played for one of the few sellout crowds in the stadium's history, a 0-0 tie against Eastern Kentucky on October 16, 1971, which drew 17,360 spectators.

In February 1974, Boisture left Eastern Michigan to coach the Detroit Wheels, in the Central Division of the World Football League. In February 1974, Michigan assistant coach George Mans was hired as the head football coach of the Eagles, where he remained for the 1974 and 1975 seasons. In his first season as head coach, Mans' team started the season with only one win in the first six games, but the team finished strong, going 3-1-1 in the final five games.

In May 1976, Mans announced his resignation as Eastern Michigan's coach in what the Associated Press described as a "surprise move." According to one newspaper report, Mans resigned "when it became apparent that EMU would place a greater emphasis on basketball, hiring former Detroit Pistons Coach Ray Scott." Mans compiled an 8-12-1 record in two seasons as the head football coach at Eastern Michigan.

Coach Ed Chlebek came to Eastern Michigan from the University of Notre Dame, where he was an assistant under Dan Devine and coached future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana. Coach Jim Harkema came to EMU from Grand Valley State and lead EMU to four consecutive winning seasons from 1986 to 1989, including Eastern's only MAC championship in 1987, when the team went to the 1987 California Bowl and upset 17½ point favorite San Jose State for the only bowl game win in school history until the 2022 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, when they again beat San Jose State. The 1988 and 1989 teams each finished in second place in the conference.

In October 1988, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights issued a report suggesting that all schools using Native American logos or imagery should drop them. An EMU committee considered the change and recommended three possible replacement nicknames, Eagles, Green Hornets, and Express, from which the Board of Regents voted to accept the nickname "Eagles". The change became official on May 22, 1991. The controversy over the nickname continues to this day, as many former students and faculty were angered that a unique name like Hurons was replaced by a common name like Eagles, and many alumni have refused to donate money to the school until the name Hurons is restored.

Next, EMU turned to a young, up-and-coming assistant coach to right the ship. On January 3, 1995, Utah offensive coordinator Rick Rasnick was interviewed by Eastern Michigan, and the following day he was hired as head coach with a five-year contract. Rasnick brought a more open, pass-oriented offense to Eastern Michigan than his predecessor, Ron Cooper had used.

Jeff Woodruff was the head football coach at Eastern Michigan for four seasons, from 2000 until 2003. Woodruff's first season, in which the team posted a 3-8 record turned out to be the best of his tenure. Following a 38-10 loss to Central Michigan on November 1, 2003, athletic director Dave Diles, Jr.

The 2005 season, Jeff Genyk's second as head coach, saw limited improvement as the Eagles finished with a 4-7 overall record (the same as 2004) and a 3-5 MAC mark. However, that final record could just as easily have been 6-5, 7-4, or even 8-3, as the Eagles dropped two one-point games (Miami University, Ball State), one two-point game (at Cincinnati), and one eight-point game (Western Michigan). In 2006, EMU had just one win, the homecoming game against Toledo. Once again, the total could have been a lot higher, with six losses coming only by one possession.

Following Genyk's firing, Ron English, former defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan and the University of Louisville, was named head coach of the Eastern Michigan football program. At the time of his hiring, English was one of five African American head coaches in major college football; the others were Kansas's Turner Gill, Miami's Randy Shannon, Houston's Kevin Sumlin, New Mexico's Mike Locksley. Mike Haywood became the sixth when Miami University (Ohio) hired him just days later.

Although his hiring brought a lot of excitement to the program, he failed to capitalize in his first season, leading the team to an 0-12 record, the first winless season for EMU since 1981. English was abruptly fired with three games to go in the 2014 season. Less than 24 hours before the Eagles' game against Western Michigan, athletic director Heather Lyke obtained a tape of an obscenity-laced tirade English delivered to his secondary while reviewing film in October. The screed included at least one homophobic slur. Lyke said that English's language was "wholly inappropriate," and not acceptable in a student setting.

On December 23, 2013, Drake head coach Chris Creighton was hired as English's replacement. In his first season with the Eagles, they finished 2-10 and last in the Mid-American Conference. In his second season, they finished 1-11 with no conference wins, the first time since 2009. In his third season, the Eagles finished the regular season 7-5 (a six-game turnaround) while qualifying for the Bahamas Bowl, the first bowl game for the program in 29 years. Eastern Michigan lost to Old Dominion, 24-20.

On March 1, 2017, the Eastern Michigan athletics office announced a proposed plan for athletic facilities upgrades, including a new building that can be utilized for indoor practice sessions. The new facility is anticipated to be approximately 70,000 square feet, utilize a turf playing surface, improved weight room, as well as the addition of up to ten suites facing the stadium. A new scoreboard inside of Rynearson Stadium would also be added.

In 2018, Creighton's fifth season, Eastern Michigan became bowl eligible once again with a 27-7 win over Akron. In eight quarters of play, including that game and a week earlier vs. Central Michigan, the EMU defense did not allow a single offensive score by their opponents.

Creighton and the Eagles pulled road upsets of Big Ten Conference teams 3 consecutive years, from 2017 to 2019, with wins over Rutgers, Purdue, and Illinois. Fred W. Michigan State Normal College was admitted to the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1892. Michigan State Normal College dominated the brief history of the Michigan Collegiate Conference (which consisted of MSNC, Central Michigan University, and Western Michigan University), winning the conference championships in each of the four seasons (1927, 1928, 1929, and 1930) it lasted, including an undefeated season in 1927. The team was never defeated in Michigan Collegiate Conference play.

Eastern Michigan has participated in eight bowl games. In 1971 as a Division II school in their last season as an independent team, Eastern Michigan went 7-0-2 in the regular season, before losing 3-14 to Louisiana Tech in the Pioneer Bowl in Wichita Falls, Texas. In 1987, following the school's only MAC championship, and their first in any conference in 30 years, the team went on to upset 17½ point favorite San Jose State University in the California Bowl in Fresno, California, for the first bowl game win in school history. In 2016, the Eagles participated in the Bahamas Bowl after finishing the regular season 7-5, their most wins in a season since 1989 when they also had 7 victories. In 2022, Eastern played San Jose State again in the 2022 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Many of EMU's head coaches have had brief tenures with the program; 18 head coaches served for one season or less. Among the more notable head coaches at EMU have been Clayton Teetzel (1900-1902), Henry Schulte (1906-1908), Elton Rynearson (1917, 1919-1920, 1925-1948), Fred Trosko (1952-1964), Dan Boisture (1967-1973), George Mans (1974-75), Mike Sto…

Notable Alumni

Charlie Batch

Charles D'Donte Batch is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Eastern Michigan Eagles from 1993 to 1997. Batch was selected by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 1998 NFL draft, being the 60th overall pick. He played for the Lions until 2001, then joined the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2002. Batch excelled as part of the Steelers, appearing in three Super Bowls and winning in both 2005 and 2008.

During his time at Eastern Michigan, Batch earned four letters (1994, 95, 96, 97) and graduated with virtually all of the school's passing records, including total offensive yards (7,715), single-season offensive yards (3,229 in 1995) and again in 1997 (3,390), career passing yards (7,592), and career touchdown passes (53). He was named EMU's Most Valuable Player in 1997 and earned first-team All-Mid-American Conference honors in 1995 after leading the team to a 6-5 record.

Jim Pietrzak

Jim Pietrzak participated in football, wrestling, and track during his time at EMU. He played for the football team from 1972 to 1974. During that time, he was selected for the Kodak College Division first-team, named to The Football News' first-team College Division All-American Team, and the third-team Small College All-American selection by The Associated Press. He was drafted during the sixth round of the 1974 NFL draft and played professional football for 12 seasons, for the New York Giants, New Orleans Saints, and Kansas City Chiefs.

Dave Pureifory

Dave Pureifory began playing for Eastern Michigan after graduating high school in 1968. During his time at Eastern, he received first-team honors on the 1970 Little All-America college football team. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 1972 NFL draft to the Green Bay Packers and played professional football for 11 seasons for multiple teams, including the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, Michigan Panthers, and Birmingham Stallions.

Kevin Walter

Kevin Walter's time at EMU can be described in two words: record-breaking. During his four years on the team, Walter set five school records: career receiving touchdowns (20); single-season receptions (93 in 2002); career receptions (211); single-season receiving yards (1,368); and career receiving yards (2,838). He was on the First Team All-MAC as a junior and senior and was named EMU's Most Valuable Player in 2002. Walter was a seventh-round pick in the 2003 NFL draft and spent 11 seasons playing professional football.

T.J. Lang

T.J. Lang played for the Eastern Michigan Eagles from 2005 to 2008. After switching from defensive lineman to offensive tackle in his sophomore year, he started every game until the end of his college career. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fourth round of the 2009 NFL draft and spent 10 seasons playing professional football. Lang played for the Packers from 2009 to 2016, winning Super Bowl XLV with the team in 2010.

Barry Stokes

Barry Stokes played in all 44 games during his football career at EMU, from 1992 to 1995. He served as team captain in his final year. After the NFL, Stokes created the Barry Stokes Foundation and the Barry Stokes Youth Football program, striving to uplift members of his home community.

Lional Dalton

Lional Dalton was a three-year letterman and two-year starter at EMU before spending nine seasons in the NFL. During his time at EMU, Dalton earned All Mid-American Conference honors twice, played in the Hula Bowl All-Star Game, and was named the Co-Defensive Most Valuable Player. In 1998, Dalton signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Ravens and played there until 2001, winning Super Bowl XXXV with the team.

Jereme Jones

While in college, Jones led the Mid-American Conference in tackles-for-losses during his senior year, recording 1.63 per game. Jones was selected by the Tennessee Titans in the second round of the 2008 draft. He played for the Titans until 2011. The next season, in 2012, he played for the Seattle Seahawks. Then, in 2013, he joined the Detroit Lions for three seasons. Jones moved to the Miami Dolphins in 2016.

Chuck Shonta

Chuck Shonta's record is the oldest on this list. Shonta played for the EMU football team in 1957 and 1958. He also played for the university's baseball team during the 1958 and 1959 seasons. In 1960, Shonta joined the Boston Patriots, now called the New England Patriots, and played there until 1967. After that, Shonta used his education degree from EMU to teach at Northville High School for 33 years.

Other Notable Alumni

Besides the aforementioned football players, Eastern Michigan University boasts a diverse alumni base with accomplishments in various fields:

George Gervin: A basketball legend, nicknamed "the Iceman," played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). He was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 1996.
Antonio Gates: A former professional football player who was a tight end for the San Diego / Los Angeles Chargers during his entire career in the National Football League (NFL). He was named to the Pro Bowl eight times and was a six-time All-Pro selection. On February 6, 2025, Gates was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Earl Boykins: An American basketball coach and former professional player who played thirteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Standing at 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) in height, Boykins is the second-shortest player in NBA history behind Muggsy Bogues.
Jeff Daniels: A renowned actor, film director, musician, and playwright, known for his versatile performances in both comedic and dramatic roles.
S. Epatha Merkerson: An accomplished actress, best known for her role as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren on the NBC police procedural drama series Law & Order.
Dann Florek: An American actor and film director, known for his role as Captain Donald Cragen on NBC's Law & Order and its spinoff Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Akkineni Nagarjuna: An Indian actor and film producer known for his work primarily in Telugu cinema.
John Harvey Kellogg: An American businessman, inventor, physician, and advocate of the Progressive Movement, best known for his development of dry breakfast cereals and the founding of Kellogg's.
Greg Mathis: A former court judge for Michigan's 36th District, now a television court show arbitrator, author, television producer, and motivational speaker.
Winsor McCay: An American cartoonist and animator, best known for the comic strip Little Nemo and the animated film Gertie the Dinosaur.
Alysha Newman: A Canadian track and field athlete who specializes in the pole vault. She is 2024 Summer Olympics bronze medallist and 2018 Commonwealth Games champion, and holds both the Canadian national and Commonwealth Games records in the women's pole vault.
Kevin Saunderson: An American electronic dance music DJ and record producer, one of the pioneers of Detroit techno.
Hasely Crawford: A former track and field athlete from Trinidad and Tobago, the country's first Olympic champion.
Rodney E. Slater: An American politician who served as the United States Secretary of Transportation under President Bill Clinton.
Royal S. Copeland: A United States Senator from New York, an academic, homeopathic physician, and politician.

Current NFL Players

Among the most well-known current NFL players from Eastern are Pat O'Connor, a defensive lineman for the Detroit Lions, and Maxx Crosby, a defensive end for the Las Vegas Raiders and Andrew Wylie, the starting right tackle for the Washington Commanders. Many EMU athletes have represented the university on teams across the country over the years, with at least a dozen of them playing in or even winning a Super Bowl game.

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