In January 1935, the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions were jockeying for the professional services of a football player from the University of Michigan.
The two-way playerled the Wolverines to national titles in 1932 and 1933 and appeared in the Chicago Tribune College All-Star Football Game at Soldier Field on Jan. 1, 1935. His performance capped a legendary college football career and had NFL teams clamoring for his services.
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Instead of joining the young professional league, Gerald Ford rejected the offers of the Packers and Lions and opted for law school. Four decades before he would become the 40th President of the United States, Ford enrolled at Yale Law School, where he was an assistant boxing and football coach.
Ford is one of many former U.S. Presidents who played sports in college. Scroll through for a look at some others.
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George H.W. Bush – Yale
Sport: Baseball
The 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush was a first baseman for Yale in the 1940s. The lefty captain led the team to the College World Series in 1947 and 1948 and, according to Paul Dickson, co-author of Baseball: The Presidents' Game, was scouted by major league clubs.
"He was an excellent fielder and a tough out," said former USC head coach Rod Dedeaux, whose team faced him in the 1948 College World Series. "I'd put him on my all-time opponent team."
Photo: Yale
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Ronald Reagan – Eureka College
Sports:Football and Swimming
Ronald Reagan remained close to home for college, attending small Eureka College, less than a 90-minute drive from his hometown of Tampico, Ill.
The talented swimmer — local lore says he saved 77 lives as a lifeguard on the banks of Rock River in Dixon, Ill. — joined both the swimming and football teams in college. He was also a cheerleader, student body president and involved with many student organizations. Somehow, he found time to be an avid horseback rider too.
Photo: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum
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Richard Nixon – Whittier College
Sport: Basketball and Football
Richard Nixon attended college in the same town he spent most of his childhood. Whittier, Calif., then a town of barely 10,000 residents, was home to Whittier College. Despite being a small, private school, they sponsored numerous athletic programs, including basketball and football, both of which Nixon joined.
But he was far from a good football player, never seeing the field or earning a varsity letter as a third-string guard for the Poets.
Photo: Nixon in Whittier
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John F. Kennedy – Harvard
Sport: Golf and Swimming
JFK, an athletic youngster, envisioned becoming a multi-sport star at Harvard in the late 1930s. He tried out for many teams, including golf and swimming, making both teams.Kennedy was a better golfer than swimmer, with former swim coaches remembering him as "frail" and a "mediocre athlete".
"His physique wasn't anything outstanding," former coach Harold Ulen said in 1970. "As an undergraduate at Harvard, he was rather frail, as I remember."
Photo: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
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Dwight D. Eisenhower – Army
Sport: Football
Long before Dwight D. Eisenhower become one of the most decorated Army generals in American history and, later, the 34th President of the United States, he was a specimen on the football field.
He tried to play two sports, also trying out for the baseball team but was cut. Eisenhower settled for the gridiron, where he was a running back and linebacker, even competing against Jim Thorpe in the legendary Army-Carlisle game in 1912.
Photo: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum
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Woodrow Wilson – Davidson
Sport: Baseball
"Wilson would be a good player if he weren't so damned lazy," said a teammate of Woodrow Wilson on Davidson's baseball team in 1874.
Wilson played baseball as a freshman at Davidson before transferring to the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) in 1875, where he did not make the team. Known as a huge baseball fan throughout his career in academia and politics, he was the first sitting president to attend a World Series game, doing so in 1915.
Photo: AP
