Gerald Ford alongside his roommate Willis Ward. Click to enlarge.
While watching the televised funeral for former President Gerald Ford at the National Cathedral on Tuesday, I became intrigued by part of President George W. Bush’s eulogy.
In it, he said, “Long before he was known in Washington, Gerald Ford showed his character and his leadership. As a star football player for the University of Michigan, he came face to face with racial prejudice. When Georgia Tech came to Ann Arbor for a football game, one of Michigan’s best players was an African-American student named Willis Ward.
“Georgia Tech said they would not take the field if a black man were allowed to play. Gerald Ford was furious at Georgia Tech for making the demand and at the University of Michigan for caving in. He agreed to play only after Willis Ward personally asked him to. The stand Gerald Ford took that day was never forgotten by his friend.”
As one who is interested in American history, civil rights history and college football history, I became curious to learn more about that story. I also wanted to see if any Chattanooga connections could be found, since the Scenic City, particularly Baylor School, sent numerous football players to the Ramblin’ Wreck in past decades.
The game to which President Bush was referring occurred on Oct. 20, 1934. I went and looked at some old newspaper stories on the game on microfilm and could not find any references to any of the Tech players being from Chattanooga, although that does not necessarily mean none was on the team. McCallie School graduate Fletcher Sims was a freshman at Georgia Tech at the time, but freshmen were not eligible for the varsity.
However, the person who reported on the game for the Atlanta Constitution and traveled to Michigan with the Tech team via train was a former Chattanoogan -- Ralph McGill.
He would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize in the late 1950s for his well-known editorial support of civil rights, but in 1934 he was simply a sports writer. He did, however, make quite a few references to the Willis Ward situation.
Newspaper stories found on the Internet about the incident say that Georgia Tech had contacted Michigan about not playing Ward as much as a year before and that Ward was upset he had been asked not to play.
Ward, who was from Detroit and had beaten the great future Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens of Ohio State in track races, was quoted years later as saying that incident soured him on sports. He did go on to success in life, becoming a lawyer and a judge.
Years later, former President Ford, who had roomed with Ward during road games, said that he and some other players did not want to play in the Tech game until Ward changed their minds.
McGill, in a column before the team was getting ready to leave on that Thursday morning for the 24-hour train trip to Michigan, pointed out that not playing a black athlete against a Southern team had been done numerous times before. He said Cincinnati had done it against Vanderbilt just the week before. Michigan had also done it against Vanderbilt in 1922 and 1923, he said, and New York University did it against Georgia in 1931.
In trying to figure out how this could be rectified, he went on to say, “Until this time-honored custom is honored more in the breech than the observance, it might be well for Southern and Northern teams to avoid scheduling games when there is any possibilities of racial friction.”
On the way to Michigan, the Tech team had stopped off at the University of Kentucky to visit with the Kentucky coaches, including head coach C.A. Wynne. After arriving in Michigan, they had a Friday afternoon practice at Michigan’s massive stadium. Patterned after the Yale Bowl, this is the same stadium used today and commonly known as the Big House. It has been slightly enlarged since 1934, although it could seat around 85,000 then.
The Georgia Tech team was staying at the Huron Hotel at Ypsilanti, Mich., eight miles from the Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. This was done in part to prevent any additional attention in light of the Ward situation, McGill wrote.
But in writing on the day of the game, McGill said that public attention or debate regarding the incident had fizzled out. He also kept stating that Ward, whom he called a good student and citizen, was fine with not playing.
“He (Ward) feels no animosity toward the Tech team and does not want to play in the Tech game,” McGill wrote. “There is no acrimony at all. Yet some of the radical organizations, charged by the Michigan Daily with trying to make publicity for themselves, and not being interested in Ward, are trying to do something about it. Ward will not play. He doesn’t want to.”
When the game arrived, McGill wrote that the rain was pouring and that only slightly more than 30,000 people were in attendance, a far cry from Michigan’s attendance for some of its games at that time.
He also stated that the fall colors were noticeable around the stadium and that Sousa marching music was coming out of the stadium loud speakers before the game. He might have also heard the famous Michigan fight song, “Hail to the Victors,” from the band, as it had already been written by that time.
Michigan’s players that day wore black helmets and were four seasons away from wearing their now-famous helmets brought by Coach Fritz Crisler from Princeton.
A twist on the Willis Ward incident evidently occurred when Michigan had requested at the last minute that, since Ward was an end, Tech sit its end, Hoot Gibson, as well during the game. McGill quipped that Michigan had followed the Bible story of an eye for an eye, but had made it an end for an end.
Tech agreed not to play him, and McGill said that this greatly hurt the Yellow Jackets’ chances.
The game was tied, 0-0, at the half. But early in the third quarter, Michigan player Ferris Jennings took a punt and rambled 68 yards for a touchdown. Both teams would later score a safety each, and Michigan would win 9-2.
An interesting statistic was that both teams surprisingly threw a total of 50 passes during the game, but they completed only two each. Numerous punts were also made, as was common in those days.
Among Tech’s other players were Sundial Martin, Oscar Thompson, Dave and John Wilcox, Toby Roberts, and Burtz Boulware, among others, Billy Street was injured and did not play.
Although former President Ford is listed in the Atlanta paper by his last name only as the starting center for the game, McGill made no reference to him in his article, even though he was considered perhaps the best Michigan player.
McGill died in 1969 before Ford became president or vice president. But he did later become well acquainted with a number of national politicians, and one can only wonder if their paths ever crossed again or if they discussed that game or Willis Ward.
On that same day, in a game that was followed much more closely by Chattanoogans and was reported on by Wirt Gammon Sr. of the Chattanooga Times, Alabama beat Tennessee, 13-6, in Birmingham. Alabama’s star player was Dixie Howell, but it also featured a couple of ends named Don Hutson and Paul “Bear” Bryant.
Although Michigan had gone undefeated and been named national champions the previous two years, the win over Georgia Tech in 1934 was actually its only win of the year. The week before, the Wolverines had lost to the University of Chicago and 1935 Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger by a score of 27-0.
Tech also won only once that year, against Clemson in its first game. Georgia Tech’s head coach in 1934 was William Alexander, while future head coach Bobby Dodd, who had played under Robert Neyland at Tennessee, was an assistant.
Michigan’s coach was Harry B. Kipke. He had done well since taking over the reins of the program in 1929, but he would be gone after 1937. The athletic director in 1934 was the former successful Wolverine coach Fielding Yost, who, some articles say, was involved in the decision not to play Ward.
After that day, Michigan would not play another team from the Deep South again until 1953, when Tulane lost at Ann Arbor. It has not played Georgia Tech since 1934.
Georgia Tech would actually go on to be the first major football program in the Deep South to play a black quarterback. Eddie McAshan, who was recruited by coach Bud Carson, would start in 1970 and lead the Yellow Jackets to a win over archrival Georgia that year before being suspended following a disagreement with first-year coach Bill Fulcher in 1972.
In looking back at this incident of long ago that was brought to the forefront by President Bush, one can see how far America has come in race relations, even though problems still exist.
And one man who helped contribute to a more harmonious world was Gerald Ford, who had won one for his African-American friend on that day of long ago.