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Kirk Gibson to deliver commencement speech at Michigan State

Posted at 7:02 PM, Mar 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-20 19:02:35-04

 Former Detroit Tigers star and Michigan State All-American football player Kirk Gibson will speak to graduates at the East Lansing school.

Gibson is scheduled to speak May 5 at the undergraduate convocation in the Jack Breslin Student Events Center. He's set to receive an honorary doctorate of humanities.

From 1975 to 1978, Gibson attended Michigan State, where he played football and baseball. He'll be inducted this year into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Gibson, diagnosed in 2015 with Parkinson's disease, scored the winning run in the 1984 World Series. Four years later, he was awarded the National League MVP during his first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ford Foundation President Darren Walker will speak at the advanced-degree ceremony. He led the philanthropy committee that helped resolve Detroit's bankruptcy.