Flashback 100: Harbaugh Brothers' Football Roots Planted in Part at Pioneer
November 29, 2024
Monday's NFL matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Chargers marked the third time Ann Arbor brothers John and Jim Harbaugh have faced off as head coaches.
John, the Ravens' head coach since 2008, holds a 3-0 record against his younger brother Jim, who is in his first season leading the Chargers. Jim previously served as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014, and the two Harbaughs famously met in Super Bowl XLVII, where John emerged victorious.
Before their coaching careers, the brothers played together on the same high school football team. In 1979, the Ann Arbor Pioneer team finished with a 4-5 record, with John as a senior defensive back and Jim, a sophomore quarterback, starting the year on the junior varsity team.
After high school, John attended Miami (Ohio) and eventually began his coaching career. After his sophomore year of high school, Jim followed his father Jack to Palo Alto, Calif., when Jack took a coaching job at Stanford. The Harbaughs' roots in Ann Arbor ran deep, and Jim would later return to Michigan, where he played and, in 2023, led the Wolverines to a national championship as head coach. Jim Harbaugh played 14 seasons in the NFL before moving on to coaching, taking snaps with the Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts, Baltimore Ravens and San Diego Chargers.
The Harbaugh brothers were inducted into the Ann Arbor Pioneer Athletics Hall of Fame together in 2016.
Previous "Flashback 100" Features
Nov. 22: 8-Player Football Finals Right at Home at Superior Dome - Read
Nov. 15: Leland Career Helps Set Stage for Glass' International Stardom - Read
Nov. 8: Future Baseball Pro Led Escanaba's Legendary Football Title Run - Read
Nov. 1: Michigan High School Baseball Trio Provide World Series Voices - Read
Oct. 25: Before Leading Free World, Ford Starred for Champion GR South - Read
Oct. 18: Mercy Links Legend Becomes World Golf Hall of Famer - Read
Oct. 11: Fisher Races to Finals Stardom on Way to U.S. Olympic First - Read
Oct. 4: Lalas Leaves High School Legacies on Ice & Pitch - Read
Sept. 27: Tamer's History-Making Run Starts in Dexter, Continues to Paris - Read
Sept. 20: Todd Martin’s Road to Greatness Starts at East Lansing - Read
Sept. 13: James Earl Jones, Dickson High Hoops to Hollywood Legend - Read
Sept. 6: Pioneers' Unstoppable Streak Stretches 9 Seasons - Read
Aug. 30: Detroit dePorres Rushes to 1995 Class CC Football Championship - Read
PHOTOS At top left, John Harbaugh in 1979, with brother Jim’s photo at bottom left. At right, John Harbaugh is No. 22 in the 1979 Pioneer football team photo. (Photos courtesy of Ann Arbor Pioneer/MLive.)
Flashback 100: Before Leading Free World, Ford Starred for Champion GR South
October 25, 2024
The only U.S. president from the state of Michigan, Gerald Ford also is the only person to become president without winning an election to become either president or vice president.
But before a career in politics, Ford starred on the gridiron at Grand Rapids South High School. South opened in 1917 and closed as a high school in 1968. Ford graduated in 1931, playing as a senior on a football team that would go undefeated and eventually be named a state champion according to statewide media – whose rankings determined champions before the creation of the MHSAA Playoffs in 1975.
Ford's final game was a scoreless tie played against cross-town rival Grand Rapids Union, a game Union would later forfeit for using ineligible players.
Ford also played basketball and ran track at South. After high school, he attended the University of Michigan and played football for the Wolverines. In 1934, his senior year, he was named team MVP. Following that, he attended law school at Yale and was an assistant football coach for the Bulldogs.
Ford was elected to Congress in 1948 and served 13 terms in the House of Representatives. When Spiro Agnew resigned as vice president in 1973, President Richard Nixon selected Ford as the new VP. A year later, after Nixon resigned, Ford assumed the presidency – becoming the 38th president of the United States.
Ford was inducted into the State of Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1977 and the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 1978. He died in 2006 at the age of 92. The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids is the presidential museum and burial place of Ford and his wife Betty.
Previous "Flashback 100" Features
Oct. 18: Mercy Links Legend Becomes World Golf Hall of Famer - Read
Oct. 11: Fisher Races to Finals Stardom on Way to U.S. Olympic First - Read
Oct. 4: Lalas Leaves High School Legacies on Ice & Pitch - Read
Sept. 27: Tamer's History-Making Run Starts in Dexter, Continues to Paris - Read
Sept. 20: Todd Martin’s Road to Greatness Starts at East Lansing - Read
Sept. 13: James Earl Jones, Dickson High Hoops to Hollywood Legend - Read
Sept. 6: Pioneers' Unstoppable Streak Stretches 9 Seasons - Read
Aug. 30: Detroit dePorres Rushes to 1995 Class CC Football Championship - Read
PHOTOS (Top) Clockwise from top left: Gerald Ford headshot from 1929. (2) Ford appears in a team photo with Grand Rapids South that fall. (3) Ford stands in football pants in 1930. (Middle) Ford appears in his uniform in 1928. (Photos courtesy of The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.)