Michigan football countdown to kickoff: 48 days until 2022 season
There’s much anticipation heading into the Michigan Wolverines football season, and TheWolverine.com is counting down the days until the Sept. 3 opener against Colorado State. We’ll discuss current Michigan events, upcoming season and/or take a look at a significant number that correlates with how many days remain until kickoff, whether it be a player’s jersey number, a year, a date, a score, etc.
With 48 days until kickoff, we take a look back at former Michigan offensive lineman Gerald R. Ford — No. 48 — and the famous story of him being an ally to African-American athlete and teammate Willis Ward. Ford, of course, went on to be the 38th president of the United States.
Ward was a Michigan football player from 1932-34, and was the focal point of the Georgia Tech controversy. The Yellow Jackets refused to play if Ward was to take the field for Michigan, and U-M opted to hold him out of the game. Ford, U-M’s 1934 team MVP, reportedly threatened to quit the team if Ward wasn’t allowed to play.
“Ford was signing up for classes at Michigan one day when he spotted Willis Ward, who was from Detroit,” Don Holloway (curator of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum) said on the Attack Each Day podcast in 2018. “Ward was actually perhaps better known for his exploits on the track than on the football field at the time.
“Just getting Ward on campus was a tough haul for head coach Harry Kipke at the time — he wanted an integrated team and wanted the school to become more integrated as well. The friendship was struck up on the first day between Ford and Ward and continued for all four of their years there.
“Ford was good enough to make the traveling squad for the football team, but the substitution rules back then said a player could not come back into a game before the half once they had exited.
“When the team traveled, the two would room together. They actually only won one game in 1934, and it was the controversial affair against Georgia Tech.
“The Yellow Jackets refused to take the field against an integrated team, and insisted Ward sit out, and they’d sit out one of their players as compensation.
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“Ward considered quitting the team afterward, as did Ford because he saw the unfairness in the situation.”
“Michigan prevailed, 9-2, but the whole ordeal dispirited the team.”
Overall, Ford’s experience at Michigan was extremely positive and helped set the table for his career in politics and life in the limelight.
“One of the lessons he took from playing football was how it’s a team sport and people are to give themselves up for the success of the team,” Holloway said. “When you do that, it gives an opportunity for others to shine, but it’s a shine that reflects on the entire team.
“Ford also learned people have to make important decisions, and you own whatever decisions you make.
“He knew the decision he made to pardon Nixon wold reflect his team, and it would probably foul 1976 and his drive to be elected president in his own right.
“Ford said he had to make it, thinking about the welfare of 220,000,000 Americans, not just one person.”
Michigan football countdown to kickoff
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