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.)
Set, Ready, Challenge: 11-Player Football Finals Challenges New in 2022
By
Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
November 25, 2022
New this year at the MHSAA 11-Player Football Finals is the opportunity for head coaches to challenge a call.
In previous years, all potential scoring plays and potential turnovers were automatically reviewed. That process will continue and now, under a limited set of circumstances, the head coach can challenge calls.
To do so, the head coach must first call a timeout. If a team has no timeouts remaining, they are not able to challenge a call. Challenges must be presented to the officials immediately after the timeout is granted. If the challenge is successful, the team will get its timeout back and have the ability to challenge one more call during regulation. A second successful challenge will not result in the ability to challenge a third call.
The following plays are reviewable by challenge:
- Complete/incomplete passes
- Runner/receiver in/out of bounds
- Runner ruled not down
- Forward progress spot as it relates to the yard to gain
- First touching of a kick
- Recovery of a ball in/out of bounds
- Forward/backward pass
- Penalties called on the field only for:
- Illegal forward pass
- Targeting or illegal helmet contact
- Pass interference only as it relates to the pass being previously tipped
NOTE: All other penalties called on the field are not reviewable. These include, but are not limited to: illegal formation, ineligible receivers downfield, illegal participation, illegal substitution or delay of game. If a penalty is not called by the officials on the field, the play can never be reviewed to retroactively call a penalty.
In overtime, challenges – like timeouts – reset. Each team has the ability to challenge one call for the entirety of overtime, but must have a timeout to use to do so. A successful challenge in overtime will not result in the ability to challenge a second call.
If a play is overturned in regulation or overtime, the replay officials will correct all aspects of the play including time, position of the ball and whether the clock will be started on the RFP or snap. The game clock or play clock may be reviewed only as it directly relates to the overturning of a call on the field.
There is no change to the review of potential scoring and potential turnover plays. Those plays are automatically looked at by the replay official and replay assistant. If the replay official can confirm the ruling on the field without stopping play, the official will do so. If more time is needed to review the play, the on-field referee will announce that and then will announce the replay official’s decision. For a play to be reversed, there must be indisputable video evidence that shows the original call was incorrect. Every attempt will be made to complete the review process in 90 seconds or less.
The addition of the coach’s challenge was approved by the MHSAA’s Representative Council at its May 2022 meeting.