Playing for Michigan in a game against University of Chicago, Ford actually tackled Jay Berwanger, the first Heisman trophy winner and the very first #1 NFL Draft pick.

After graduating from Michigan, Ford was invited to tryout for the Lions and Packers but instead accepted a coaching position at Yale and went to their Law School. Hit a Hole in One at a Pro-Am event in '77.

At Yale, he first got into politics by helping to found the infamous Isolationist group America First Committee along future Peace Corps director/Vice-Presidential nominee Sargent Shriver and future U.S. Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart. (Ford attended one of Charles Lindbergh's nationally broadcasted radio speeches.)

Of course he was also a member of the Warren Commission and directly blamed the CIA destroying documents or withholding them from the Commission for why the Warren Report comes off as colluding with the CIA. He never wavered from his belief in the single gunman theory as was the last surviving Commission member. After Ford died, declassified FBI memos showed Ford snitched for them on two of his fellow Commission members.

Ford served in the House of Representatives representing Grand Rapids for 25 years, 8 as House Minority Leader. He turned down chances to run for Governor and Senate because he had hoped to someday become Speaker of the House, but his party never won the majority of seats in that chamber. A busy legislator, in spite of never authoring any significant bill. He was ML in the Eighty-ninth Congress, where a whopping 96%(!) of bills submitted were passed.

Inoffensive and unpretentious, well-liked by members of both parties. This probably why Nixon picked him to replace the disgraced Agnew as Vice-President, for confirmation would be quick and painless. Nixon initially wanted John Connally, but Congressional leaders including Speaker of the House (and Democrat) Carl Albert pushed for Ford. Ford accepted the offer only because he had planned to retire in '77 and figured this unexpected elevation would be a good end for his political career.

I remember reading an anecdote from Woodward/Bernstein's THE FINAL DAYS where on Tuesday, August 6 Ford that day finally was told by the Nixon White House that the President would resign on Friday. Ford's old friend and law firm partner Philip W. Buchen (later Ford's White House Counsel) came over that night for dinner. Afterwards Ford was swimming at his backyard pool and passively told Buchen as matter of fact that he would be President in less than 3 days. (And only after they talked about the mowing job that one of Ford's sons was doing at the time.)

Ford was the longest living President, dying at 93. He's the only Eagle Scout to become President. He also is the highest-ranking Republican to have endorsed full legal equality for Gays and Lesbians. Until his death, he had privately and publicly been gaining support for a Federal anti-gay job discrimination bill which still hasn't been passed.