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Eric WoodyardESPN
Andre Rison is tired of keeping a secret amid numerous black-centered problems of social injustice and racial equality in the United States.
Rison, a former Michigan State All-American and NFL All-Pro, alleges that when he was a sophomore at MSU, assistant coach Carl “Buck” Nystrom hit him in the locker room before a game in Illinois on 18 October 1986.
“Back then, you just thought it was part of being tough and being a soccer player who wanted to get to the National Soccer League [and] ultimately changing the life situations of my mother, brother, sisters and family, “Rison told ESPN.
He added, “When the coach slapped me, the entire room went silent, and Mark Ingram Sr. put his arm around me. I shed a tear. I had never been hit by an adult man. Neither my grandfather nor my father. He wasn’t in my life very much, but he had never been hit by a man, and then a white man had never hit me, for sure. For a long time, I held him.
“I played basketball at Michigan State and I also did All-Big Ten at Michigan State on the indoor court, and I thought it was part of the culture of trying to get to the next level,” he said. “Also, I was just watching ‘Roots’ as a child and hearing what slavery was like. We were very close to [having learned] That, but not like this generation of professional athletes, so that’s why I congratulate you on how you stand up and protest and the way you do for racial change.
“For me, for me, being in an interracial relationship, in a marriage of 15 years, I love my wife, and it doesn’t matter what color you are and what race you come from, because we are all human.”
Nystrom was an All-America player at MSU in the 1950s before returning as an assistant coach. He entered the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014, and his son, Kyle, is the football head coach at the University of Northern Michigan.
Despite repeated attempts by ESPN, representatives from Northern Michigan and the State of Michigan did not respond to requests for comment. Coach Kyle Nystrom also did not respond to numerous ESPN inquiries.
“That man had no right to hit me. I never told my mother. I never told anyone,” said Rison. “The only people who really knew were our entire team and all the coaches. Nick Saban was on that team. He was one of those who approached me and consulted me. That’s why I respect him to this day. I have I had to call Nick Saban every day and knock down his door, but Nick Saban offered my son a scholarship. [to Alabama]and that was fair to me. That was fair and was all I asked for. I love Nick I love Nick as a father figure. “
Rison, 53, lives in Michigan, but says he doesn’t feel welcome on the East Lansing campus, despite being a member of the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame and a contributor to the 1988 Rose Bowl title.
Her son Hunter left Michigan State in 2018, after his first season, to find more playing time at Kansas State. He was arrested on a domestic battery charge and suspended in April 2019. He pleaded guilty to a lesser battery charge.
He has since transferred to Fullerton College, a junior college program in California, where he scored seven touchdowns with 604 yards received in seven games last season.
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