The only non-human to receive a varsity letter at Michigan State was a purebred dog. A Labrador Retriever, to be exact.

Back in the 1970s,  sophomore, Gary Eisenberg, and his Lab, “Zeke,” liked to play Frisbee. The dog was so good that the pair ccompeted in several frisbee competitions, and eventually but were runner-up winners in the world championship. Michigan State University MSU heard about Zeke and asked Gary and and his dog to perform at a home game.  The rest is history. Gary and Zeke became an MSU football tradition. Football coach, Darryl Rogers, said that Zeke “was the best receiver in the Big Ten,” and awarded a Varsity football letter to him making Zeke the only non-human to ever receive the award. Sadly,  Zeke died in 1987.

It’s not easy to replace a legend, and for nearly twenty years, no one tried. But in 2001, the search began to find a new Zeke,” and “Dexter,” a black Lab/Pointer blend belonging to Jim and Terri Foley became “Zeke II.”  Dexter performed from 2001 until 2007 under the tutelage of Gary Eisenberg, the original Zeke’s owner, and the tradition for Spartan fans and alumni was continued.

Zeke II died in 2012,  but by then, the Foleys had begun training a purebred yellow Lab known at home as “Boo Coo” to be Zeke III.  Zeke III died suddenly in 2016 from an undetected stomach tumor, and “Ranger,” a dog who had performed along with Zeke III debuted as Zeke IV during an MSU Men’s Basketball game the same year.

You can follow Zeke the Wonder Dog on his Facebook page. As for the “Go White, Go Green,” it’s explained here.