Gerald Ford

Early Life
Gerald Rudolph Ford was born Leslie King Jr. in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 14, 1913. He was the only child of Leslie and Dorothy Gardner King. His parents were divorced in 1915. His mother moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and married Gerald R. Ford. He was adopted and renamed for his stepfather.
Ford was the captain of his high school football team in Grand Rapids, and a football scholarship took him to the University of Michigan, where he starred as varsity center before his graduation in 1935. He almost accepted offers from the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers to play professional football. A job as assistant football coach at Yale gave him an oppo...