East Lansing — On Christmas Eve, my sister and I always watch “Elf.” I’m going to enjoy the movie a lot more this year knowing that one of the stars went to the same school I do.
James Caan, who plays Buddy the Elf’s dad in the movie, went to Michigan State University in the 1950s, where he played on the football team as a walk-on quarterback.
Long before he was Walter Hobbs, the crabby children’s book executive who realizes he has a son who grew up on the North Pole, James Caan was an Econ major at MSU who dreamed of being a big football star.
As an MSU student myself, I took some time this week to visit some of his old stomping grounds.
Caan grew up in New York City and came to MSU in the fall of 1956 specifically to play football. The Spartans were coached by Duffy Daugherty and were one of the best teams in the country. In 1955, they won the national championship.
Caan came back to MSU in 1976 and filmed a promotional video for the football team. In it, he talked about his days in East Lansing and how much he loved the school. He talked about living on the third floor of Butterfield Hall.
“Back then, I was just another kid with a dream, dreaming about being a big football hero,” he says in the video. “I guess a lot of guys had that dream, playing football for Michigan State, running down the field, listening to 50,000 fans cheer. Now, I know that sports isn’t the only reason that bring people here to Michigan State. But even so, when I think of Michigan State, I kind of think of one thing: football.”
Caan only spent one year at Michigan State before he got the acting bug and moved back to New York. He loved being part of the football team, though, even though he never made it into a game as a walk-on freshman. He later said that his main position at MSU was “tackling dummy.”
After he left MSU, it didn’t take long for the tackling dummy to make it big in Hollywood. In 1971, he put his Spartan football skills to use when played football player Brian Piccolo in “Brian’s Song,” a TV movie about a Chicago Bears running back who’s stricken with cancer.
Caan was such a good athlete that during the filming of that movie, he had to intentionally slow himself down when he was in scenes with Billy Dee Williams, who played his best friend, star running back Gale Sayers.
A year later, he received an Oscar nomination for playing Sonny Corleone in “The Godfather,” my dad’s favorite movie.
A few decades after that, in 2003, he was in my favorite movie, “Elf.” My dad will always remember him as Sonny, but to me, he’ll always be Walter Hobbs. And Christmas Eves watching “Elf” with my sister will always be more special because I know that Walter Hobbs was a Spartan.
James Caan loved Michigan State and made several visits back to campus after he became a Hollywood star. In 1997, he served as the grand marshal in MSU’s homecoming parade.
He would also tweet about MSU on occasion. His last tweet came on March 26, 2022, just four months before his death. The official MSU Twitter feed wished him happy birthday, and he thanked them by responding with a greet heart emoji.
Go Green, James Caan! And always remember the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup!
Lottie Moorehouse is a senior at Michigan State University majoring in digital storytelling.
