Today's Tidbit... Gerald Ford Coulda Been A Packer
Football Archaeology has covered the new exhibit at the National Archives Museum in Washington, D.C., All American: The Power of Sports, which displays many artifacts related to sports' ability to unite people across boundaries.
Among the items in the exhibit is a letter from Curly Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers to Gerald Ford, a graduating senior from the University of Michigan. As mentioned in the letter, Lambeau scouted Ford when he played in the East-West Shrine Game in San Francisco on New Year’s Day, 1935. The two talked then, and Lambeau followed up with a letter offering Ford $110 per game ($1,540 for the 14-game season).
The Detroit Lions also offered Ford, but he chose instead to coach boxing and football at Yale while also applying to their law school, where he was admitted several years later.
We will never know what might have been had Ford chosen to play for the greatest franchise in professional football.
You can find more information about the National Archives exhibit at the link above. Alternatively, if you want to explore items in the National Archives Catalog, click here to find Lambeau’s letter to Ford. From there, the catalog is your oyster.
Football Archaeology is reader-supported. Click here to buy one of my books or otherwise support the site.