Join us in celebrating the amazing accomplishments of Spartans throughout history and discover what fellow Spartans are doing to make a difference or share your own story at SpartanSagas.msu.edu.
From its beginning as the nation’s pioneer land-grant university to its role today as one of the world’s top research universities, MSU has changed the world. Every day, more than half a million Spartans are a force for good in nearly every time zone around the world.
Celebrate MSU’s oldest known living alum!
Many alumni identify with being a “Spartan for life,” but no one we know of has held that title longer than Howard Bryant. At 105, Bryant is MSU’s oldest known living alum and truly exemplifies the Spartan spirit.
Born December 25, 1906, Bryant enrolled at what was then Michigan State College in 1926, the same year the “Aggies” became known as the “Spartans.” Facing financial challenges that interrupted his studies during the Great Depression, Bryant went to work at Oldsmobile, married, and had two children. He returned to campus to earn a degree in agriculture in 1937 and taught the subject to high school students and to World War II veterans who needed to learn farming practices that had changed while they were away at war. To this day, Bryant tends a small plot of farmland at his home in Ovid, Michigan, and enjoys following his favorite sport—Spartan football!
Read Bryant’s full story.