Kmarko recently wrote a blog on Gianni Russo and the tall tales of his new book. Russo claims to have seen JFK do a line off some chick's tummy and apparently thought that was going to be breaking news. That's exactly what I thought JFK was doing. Anyway it put me on to a JFK rabbit hole that brought me to presidents in college football. Heres what I found.
We'll start with JFK. The original Johnny Football; except not really. Kennedy wasn't very good if we're being honest. He knew it though, "Politics is an astonishing profession, it has enabled me from being an obscure member of the junior varsity at Harvard to being an honorary member of the Football Hall of Fame." Good for him. Got his gold jacket even though the highest he reached was Harvard's JV wide out. JFK's talent never kept him from being a fan of the game. This is the transcript of his "going to the moon" speech that he delivered in Rice's stadium.
Last minute JFK wrote in to his speech Why does Rice Play Texas? Right up there with Why climb the highest mountain? Why 35 years ago fly the Atlantic? Clearly Everest and Lindbergh aren't nearly as impressive as the Owls scheduling the Longhorns. Jack's Rice line was received with so much applause that it took him three tries to get the next line out over the noise of the crowd.
Before he was creating the National Aeronautic and Space Administration, Ike Eisenhower was creating space on the gridiron. Ike was the starting running back for Army in 1912. In a game vs Tufts he blew his knee out, ending his football career. Apparently he became so depressed that he was unable to play football, that he strongly considered leaving the West Point. Thank God he stuck it out because he went on to send America's greatest all-out blitz and stormed the beaches of Normandy marking the beginning of the end for WWII.
Herbert Hoover didn't ball but he was a baller. Hoover was the business manager for Stanford and helped arrange one of the first big west coast games vs Cal. He rented out a baseball field for $250 and printed out 5,000 $2 tickets. 10,000 people wound up showing up and were granted admission if they had the two dollars cash. $20,000 was collected and Hoover dashed and stashed the cash in his hotel room. He didn't even watch the game over fear that someone would rob the money. If you think that ol Herbie didn't skim a little off the top in the year of our Lord 1892, then you're out of your bird. I like to imagine a then young, would-be-president, with overstuffed suitcases of cash sitting on the bed of his hotel room, shaking with the lights out and a baseball bat in his hand. He probably paid off his tuition the next day. Didn't need Lori Loughlin for that one.
Gerald Ford is the greatest backup in American History. He is the only man to become President and Vice President without being elected to either position. But he didn't have to worry about backup roles for the Michigan Wolverines since they named him their team MVP in 1934. Ford is easily the best pure player to ever sit in the oval office. He's the handsome SOB pictured above. As a linebacker/center he helped lead Michigan to two Big 10 chips and back to back national championships. Ford was offered a spot with the Lions and the Packers but turned it down to attend Yale Law School and the rest was history. Michigan went on to retire Ford's #48 jersey.
So there it is. Reagan and Nixon also played for minor schools but there wasn't much to go off of besides the fact that they played. Dream big kids, play college football, but if you have an inkling to maybe head to law school instead of the league, take it. You could change the course of history.
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