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Hail to the Victor
A Michigan Wolverine chooses politics over the NFL
Future President Gerald Ford (far right) and fellow 1934 All-Americans |
It would seem odd if in 1998 after his senior season at Tennessee, Peyton Manning would opt to run for Congress out of his home state of Louisiana rather than be selected #1 overall in that year’s draft.
Well he didn’t, (not that he was thinking about it) but because he didn’t you could catch Manning’s face during just about every commercial break last fall and winter. Not to mention that he hasn’t become a too shabby of a quarterback either (Manning won last year’s Super Bowl MVP award).
But 72 years ago an All-Star center and linebacker chose the former. Once an All-City star at Grand Rapids South High School in 1930, Gerald Ford attracted recruitment offers from the top major college football programs in the country. He would choose to attend the University of Michigan, where he would major in political science and economics.
Ford’s on the field heroics are still legendary in Ann Arbor today as he led the Wolverines to back-to-back undefeated national championship seasons in 1932 and 1933. The team would suffer a devastating 1934 season with one win to their name. The 9 losses suffered has been attributed to the fact that Willis Ward, an African-American, and Ford’s roommate, was made to sit out the first game against Georgia Tech as the Yellow Jackets refused to take the field against unless Ward didn’t play.
The discrimination cast a shadow on the team as well as Ward. Ford even contemplated quitting the team after the incident and yet he rallied and continued to play well despite his team’s adversity and losing efforts.
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The most memorable game that season was a one against the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, the team that would go on to be crowned the 1934 national champions.
The Battle for the “Little Brown Jug,” as the game has been called since 1903, was a defining one for Ford. Holding Minnesota to a tie in the first half, the Wolverines would fight hard only to lose in a blow out in Minneapolis, 34-0.
“During 25 years in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, I often thought of the experiences before, during, and after that game in 1934. Remembering them has
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Ford on the Gridiron |
helped me many times to face a tough situation, take action, and make every effort possible despite adverse odds,” Ford later said. Michigan would go on to retire Ford’s #48 jersey 60 years after the ’34 season.
Soon after college, the Detroit Lions and the Green bay Packers came knocking on his door, only for him to turn them down. He would go on to spend a year at the University of Michigan Law School and later earn his Jurist Doctorate at Yale Law School. After spending the World War II years in the U.S. Naval Reserves, he would return home and marry the former Ms. Betty Bloomer, then go on to run for and win a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
His decision to choose policy over passing plays led Ford to play a pivotal role in American history. He would be sworn in as vice president after the resignation of Spiro Agnew as Ford was seen as an honest man in Washington, which was a far cry from the public’s perception of the Nixon administration in October 1973. Less than year later, Ford became the 38th President of the United States after the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
Wherever he went, regardless of the occasion, the memories of his days as a University of Michigan football star always stuck with him as President Bush described when reflecting on President Ford’s love for his alma mater a his funeral earlier this year.
“After all, their wedding had taken place less than three weeks before his first election to the United States Congress, and his idea of a "honeymoon" was driving to Ann Arbor with his bride so they could attend a brunch before the Michigan-Northwestern game the next day,” said President Bush. |
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