Spartan Profiles: Bruce McCristal

SPIRIT OF MICHIGAN STATE

            If ever a book was a labor of love, The Spirit Of Michigan State (InnerWorkings, 2004) fits the category—having taken 11 and a half years to assemble all 512 pages and 440 photos.  But Bruce McCristal, ’54, puts his magnum opus in perspective. 

            “William J. Beal wrote the history of our first 50 years in five years,” notes McCristal, a retired General Motors executive in Bloomfield Hills.  “It took Madison Kuhn 13 years to write First Hundred Years, which was published in 1955.  I’m writing about 150 years, so it does not seem quite as long.”  Nonetheless, Bruce spent years researching MSU history, even reading reports by the State Agricultural Society of Michigan in the 1850s.  The result is a tome that contains just about every positive achievement by MSU and its alumni, faculty and students. “This has all the wonderful things about MSU all pulled together in one place,” says Bruce.  “It will give you sales ammunition on all kinds of activities.”  

            The book contains a year-by-year timeline of MSU, 150 highlights to commemorate MSU’s sesquicentennial, listings of all NCAA and Olympic champions, and chapters of all kinds of individual and departmental achievements. 

            Bruce literally grew up on the campus, the son of a professor, and while a student worked for legendary sports information director Fred W. Stabley. At General Motors he rose to head public relations at Cadillac, GM Hughes Electronics Corporation, and the AC Electronics Division.  He served as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force and has served as chairman and vice chairman of MSU’s Development Fund, and on the national board of the MSU Alumni Association. 

            His new tome has a hefty price of $49.95, but as Bruce notes, “All the profits from the book are going to Michigan State University.”  The book is available at Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Amazon.com.  For more information, visit www.spiritofmichiganstate.com.