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National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, Minneapolis, MN, June 20, 1967
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National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, Minneapolis, MN, June 20, 1967
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The original documents are located in Box D22, folder "National Association of Collegiate
Directors of Athletics, Minneapolis, MN, June 20, 1967" of the Ford Congressional Papers:
Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D22 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGIATE DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS
JUNE 20, 1967, MPLS., MINN
get metabolism
3
romantic at lunch
T
sleepy at Grablast
new and checking
hungry at mednight
EV DIRKSEN - cortpase /Bob Kennedy
GENTLEMEN: I WANT FIRST OF ALL TO TELL YOU HOW HAPPY I
AM TO BE HERE WITH YOU TONIGHT. IT'S NOT TOO OFTEN THAT I
non contraversial
GET A CHANCE TO SPEAK BEFORE SUCH A CONGENIAL AUDIENCE. IT'S
REAL NICE BEING WITH SO MANY OLD FRIENDS. IT'S LIKE OLD HOME
WEEK--NOT LIKE ON SOME OCCASIONS WHEN I FEEL LIKE A PERSON
OF DOUBTFUL ORIGIN AT A FAMILY REUNION. are defferent. alumi
We do have much an commin even thing
Memority Linder-
AS YOU MAY KNOW, IT WAS FOREST EVASHEVSKI WHO CONTACTED
ME ABOUT BEING YOUR GUEST. THAT WAS MIGHTY BROAD-MINDED OF
EVVY, SINCE, AFTER ALL, HE IS MARRIED TO THE DAUGHTER OF ONE
& finest
OF THE MOST PROMINENT DEMOCRATS THE STATE OF MICHIGAN EVER
SENT TO THE UNITED STATES SENATE.
1' LL SAY THIS FOR EVVY THE WAY HE RAN INTERFERENCE
FORD i LIBRARY 07V879 07V8
unha Frity Crider
have
FOR TOM HARMON AT MICHIGAN, SURE COULD, USEOHIM ON MY SIDE
during 1965+1966 when we were outrambored better than
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. BUT AS I LOOK ACROSS THE
AISLE, today THE DEMOCRATS MAY HAVE A GREAT NEED NOW AND IN THE
FUTURE for a including a few togmitch blockers
19 M NOT RUNNING EVVY FOR CONGRESS, BUT 1/LL BET IF HE
WERE THERE HE WOULD INCREASE THE COMPETITION. AND THAT WOULD
BE ALL TO THE GOOD NO MATTER WHICH SIDE HE WAS ON. Competition
IT'S BEEN MY EXPERIENCE THAT MEN WHO KNOW WHAT VIGOROUS
COMPETITION MEANS, IN SPORTS OR ANY OTHER ARENA OF BATTLE,
ARE MEN WHO CAN MEET THE CHALLENGE IN A TIME OF CRISIS.
THE BEST EXAMPLE I KNOW TO ILLUSTRATE THIS POINT IS THE
HEROISM DISPLAYED IN VIETNAM LATE LAST YEAR BY ARMY'S "LONELY
END," BILL CARPENTER.
IT WAS NO ACCIDENT THAT CAPT. BILL CARPENTER HAD THE
COURAGE TO CALL FOR FIRE ON HIS OWN POSITION WHEN THAT
FORD
ALD
POSITION WAS OVERRUN BY THE ENEMY. THAT KIND OF GALLANTRY
LIBRARY
AND WILL TO WIN BECAME INGRAINED IN BILL CARPENTER ON THE
-3-
gradian.
FOOTBALL FIELD. HIS EXPERIENCE IN COMPETITIVE SPORTS
involving The natural interest security of the The
CONDITIONED HIM FOR THAT TREMENDOUSLY DIFFICULT DECISION
men command. under his
AS ALL OF YOU KNOW, FOOTBALL IS MY FIRST LOVE--SO M
SURE YOU'LL FORGIVE ME IF I TALK FOOTBALL TO A GROUP OF
ATHLETIC DIRECTORS. AFTER ALL, THE ONLY REASON I WENT FROM
COACHING INTO POLITICS WAS FOR THE JOB SECURITY.
THIS IS A DAY WHEN TOO MANY COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
TEND TO PLAY DOWN FOOTBALL AND THE VALUES TO BE DERIVED FROM
GOOD, CLEAN, HARD COMPETITION ON THE PLAYING FIELD. I FIRMLY
BELIEVE THAT'S WRONG.
I CAN REMEMBER WHEN MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY WAS A
LITTLE AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL KNOWN WITH SOME SCORN BY THE
INTELLECTUALS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AS MICHIGAN'S
COW COLLEGE. THAT WAS BEFORE CLARENCE BIGGIE MUNN, DUFFY
DAUGHERTY AND, I GUESS, PRESIDENT JOHN HANNAH. SINCE THEN,
MICHIGAN STATE HAS BLAZED ITS NAME IN LETTERS SCOREBOARD-HIGH
-4-
CLEAR ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
41m-40
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT? NOT A THING. THERE'S A LOT
ARIGHT WITH IT, THOUGH, BECAUSE MICHIGAN STATE HAS GROWN IN
EVERY OTHER WAY RIGHT ALONG WITH ITS FOOTBALL FORTUNES. IT
HAS BECOME AN OUTSTANDING SCHOOL IN MANY OTHER RESPECTS--IN
THE FIELDS OF SCHOLARSHIP AS WELL AS SPORTS.
I MENTION MICHIGAN STATE BECAUSE IT IS A RELATIVE
NEWCOMER TO THE RANKS OF BIG UNIVERSITIES. I HAVE REFRAINED
FROM USING MY OWN ALMA MATER, MICHIGAN, AS AN EXAMPLE BECAUSE
MICHIGAN)S GREATNESS--ON THE GRIDIRON AND IN THE ACADEMIC
WORLD--GOES BACK SO FAR.
OF COURSE I GO BACK PRETTY FAR MYSELF. I PLAYED FOOTBALL
New The mill human The depression
WHEN THE BALL WAS ROUND. THAT WAS WHEN THE GUYS WHO TURNED
"PRO" GOT $200 A GAME, WHICH WAS WHAT CURLEY LAMBEAU OF THE
FORD
PACKERS AND POTSY CLARKE OF THE LIONS OFFERED ME TO PLAY FOR
GERA
LIBRARY
THEM IN 1935. I PROBABLY WASN'T WORTH EVEN THAT MUCH.
-5-
SOMETIMES I WONDER WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO ME IF I HAD
foottall
TAKEN CURLEY OR POTSY'S OFFER INSTEAD OF JOINING DUCKY POND's
AT YALE. MAYBE, LIKE WHIZZER WHITE, I WOULD HAVE WOUND UP
ON THE SUPREME COURT.
EVERY SO OFTEN A CAMPAIGN GETS UNDER WAY AT SOME OF THE
COLLEGES TO DE-EMPHASIZE FOOTBALL ON OTHER THAN FINANCIAL
GROUNDS. THIS PSEUDO-SOPHISTICATE MORALISM AND INTELLECTUALISM
LEAVES ME COLD. I HAVE NEVER FELT THAT THIS MAKES ANY SENSE
AS LONG AS THE GAME IS PLAYED HONESTLY AND FAIRLY. WHAT'S
WRONG WITH GOOD, HARD RECRUITMENT AND ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIPS
AS LONG AS THE ATHLETE WITH RESPECTABLE GRADES WHO IS THUS
ATTRACTED TO A SCHOOL GETS A GOOD EDUCATION? JUST BECAUSE A
KID GROWS UP IN THE COAL FIELDS OF PENNSYLVANIA OR NEAR THE
IRON ORE PITS IN MINNESOTA OR MICHIGAN DOESN'T MEAN HE CAN'T
SCORE IN THE CLASSROOM AS WELL AS ON THE PLAYING FIELD. THANK
THE GOOD LORD ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIPS HAVE GIVEN SO MANY
DESERVING KIDS THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET AN EDUCATION. THE
NATION IS BETTER FOR IT.
FOOTBALL IS A GREAT GAME. IT'S A GAME THAT BUILDS
MEN. IT'S A GREAT LEVELER. THERE ARE NO SOCIAL BARRIERS
ON THE PLAYING FIELD.
IT'S A GAME THAT TEACHES A MAN TO WORK HARD, TO DRIVE
HIMSELF TO THE POINT OF NEAR EXHAUSTION, TO ENGAGE IN DRUDGERY
FOR THE SAKE OF THE AUTOMATIC PERFECTION THAT CAN BE TURNED
ON BY INSTINCTIVE COMMAND.
IT'S A GAME THAT FORCES A MAN TO DISCIPLINE BOTH HIS
MIND AND HIS BODY, TUNING HIMSELF TO A SHARPNESS THAT CAN ONLY
COME WHEN A MAN IS MASTER OF HIMSELF.
IT'S A GAME WHERE A MAN MUST BE PART OF A TEAM IF HE'S
GOING TO PLAY AT ALL, A GAME WHERE HE SHARES THE THRILL THAT
COMES FROM WORKING WITH OTHERS IN A MEANINGFUL CAUSE, STRIVING 13
WITH OTHERS TO ATTAIN A GLORIOUS GOAL.
-7-
IT'S A GAME THAT TEACHES A MAN THE VALUE OF DESIRE,
THE IMPORTANCE OF WANTING TO WIN, AND AT THE SAME TIME MAKES
HIM BIG ENOUGH TO ACCEPT DEFEAT AND THEN COME STORMING BACK.
THE MAJOR REASON THE ISRAELIS WON THE TREMENDOUS VICTORY
THEY DID IN THE MIDEAST RECENTLY WAS THEIR ESPRIT CORPS.
FOOTBALL IS MUCH LIKE WAR. TO WIN YOU HAVE TO HIT HARD
AND HIT FAST--AND THE GUYS WHO COME OUT ON TOP ARE HEROES.
SOMEBODY ONCE SAID THAT IT'S NOT IMPORTANT WHETHER YOU
WIN OR LOSE, IT'S HOW YOU PLAY THE GAME. I KNOW WHAT HE WAS
TRYING TO SAY, AND IN PRINCIPLE I AGREE WITH HIM. BUT AT THE
SAME TIME LET'S NOT DISCOUNT THE IMPORTANCE OF WINNING IN
EITHER ATHLETICS OR POLITICS. I OUGHT TO KNOW--THE UNIVERSITY
OF MICHIGAN TEAM ON WHICH I WAS VOTED MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
FORD
LOST MOST OF ITS GAMES THAT SEASON--IN FACT WE WON ONE AND
LIBRARY
LOST SEVEN. IN MY 19 YEARS IN THE HOUSE, MY PARTY HAS BEEN
THE MINORITY ALL BUT TWO. Losing satisfaction may build being character a wonner but. There on with is much a myonty more
-8-
TO SAY IT DOESN'T MATTER WHETHER YOU WIN IS NONSENSE.
THAT'S THE NAME OF THE GAME. IF YOU BELIEVE IN YOUR
PRINCIPLES--POLITICAL OR FOOTBALL STRATEGY--WINNING IS THE
CRUCIAL TEST.
IT'S THE WILL TO WIN THAT FIRES MEN UP AND INSPIRES
THEM TO PLAY OVER THEIR HEADS, TO BE MORE THAN MERE MEN.
THAT'S THE KIND OF SPIRIT THAT PREVAILS OVER GREAT ODDS ON
THE PLAYING FIELD, THE BATTLE FIELD AND THE POLITICAL ARENA.
IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT FOOTBALL SHOULD BE SECONDARY
TO THE REASON A PLAYER IS IN COLLEGE. HE'S IN COLLEGE TO GET
Wiknow
AN EDUCATION. ATHLETIC COMPETENCE AND SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT
ARE NOT INCOMPATIBLE.
FORTUNATELY, THE PUBLIC IS BEGINNING TO REALIZE THIS
FACT OF LIFE.
FORD LIBRARY
PART OF THIS ACCEPTANCE BY THE PUBLIC HAS COME SIMPLY
THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE THAT MANY COLLEGE ATHLETES ALSO ARE
-9-
GOOD STUDENTS AND FINE CITIZENS.
AT THE SAME TIME, THE APPETITE OF AMERICANS FOR THE
NATURAL GLORY THAT SURROUNDS THE PLAYING FIELD HAS GROWN IN
RECENT YEARS.
TELEVISION HAS HAD MUCH TO DO WITH THIS DESIRABLE RESULT.
FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL, AND NOW THE NEW NATIONAL CRAZE, SOCCER,
ARE GETTING THE KIND OF EXPOSURE THAT ONLY BASEBALL USED TO
ENJOY.
THERE ARE COUNTLESS AMERICANS WHO USED TO SAY THEY WERE
INTERESTED ONLY IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL, PEOPLE WHO SPOKE DERI-
SIVELY OF PROFESSIONALS AS THE "PLAY FOR PAY" BOYS.
ALL HAS CHANGED. WE HAVE ENTERED INTO A GREAT ERA IN
SPORTS HISTORY. AMERICANS NOW RECOGNIZE THE BEAUTY IN ATHLETICS
WHETHER THE CONTEST IS FOR MONEY OR NOT. BUT ALWAYS THE NECES-
SARY INGREDIENT FOR PUBLIC APPROVAL IS DESIRE AND THE WILL TO
WIN. IF IT'S A PRO CONTEST, THE PRO'S HAVE TO LOOK LIKE
-10-
THEY'RE GIVING IT WHAT'S KNOWN AS "THE OLD COLLEGE TRY."
FROM MY OBSERVATIONS THEY DO GIVE IT THEIR BEST.
IT IS A GREAT ERA IN SPORTS, TOO, BECAUSE THE RECORDS
JUST DON'T STAND VERY LONG.
COMPETITION IS SHATTERING NEARLY EVERY RECORD. THERE
DOESN'T SEEM TO BE ANY LIMIT TO HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT IN TRACK
The hid are bigger faster, strager and better conched. you
AND FIELD PERFORMANCES. AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE EATING
IT UP.
and your associates desire great credit.
TELEVISION HAS NOT ONLY EDUCATED THE FANS, IT HAS
IMPROVED THE PLAYERS. THE KIDS WATCH THE PRO'S ON TV AND
THEN SEE IF THEY CAN'T EXECUTE THE SAME PLAYS AND MANEUVERS.
I MENTIONED EARLIER THAT I PLAYED FOOTBALL WHEN THE
BALL WAS ROUND. PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T KNOW FOOTBALL IN THOSE
DAYS THINK I'M JUST KIDDING. BUT YOU FELLOWS KNOW THAT THE
EQUIPMENT HAS CHANGED--NOT ONLY IN FOOTBALL BUT IN OTHER
LIBRARY
SPORTS. AND THE RESULTS ARE EXCITING.
MAYBE OLDTIMERS LIKE ME DON'T THINK IT'S EXACTLY FAIR
BUT POLEVAULTERS NOW ARE USING BAMBOO, STEEL, ALUMINUM AND
FIBER GLASS INSTEAD OF THE OLD HICKORY OR ASH POLES, THE
FOOTBALL IS A LOT EASIER TO THROW BECAUSE IT'S BEEN SHORTENED
AND NARROWED TWICE SINCE 1930, THE NEW BASEBALL COMPARED WITH
THAT OF THE OLD TIMES IS SO LIVELY THEY CALL IT "THE RABBIT
BALL," AND SO ON DOWN THE LINE.
ank the trend will undonbledly accilerate.
THIS IS THE AGE OF SPECIALIZATION. AS YOU WELL KNOW,
THE COACHES WHO WORK UNDER YOU ATHLETIC DIRECTORS ARE TRAINED
PHYSIOLOGISTS, SPECIALISTS IN SOME FIELD, MANY OF THEM PH.D.'S.
ALL OF THESE DEVELOPMENTS ARE WHOLESOME. THEY ARE GOOD
FOR THE COUNTRY. WHAT PLEASES ME MOST IS THAT BEING AN
ATHLETE HAS BECOME RESPECTABLE BECAUSE SPORTS NOW ARE ATTRACT-
ING SUPERIOR TALENT. THE ATHLETE TODAY REALLY HAS TO MEASURE
UP IN THE BROADEST SENSE.
LIBRARY
WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY SINCE PETER FINLEY DUNNE, WHO
-12-
BECAME FAMOUS FOR HIS "OBSERVATIONS OF MR. DOOLEY," MADE THIS
COMMENT ABOUT ATHLETICS:
"IN ME YOUNGER DAYS IT WAS NOT CONSIDERED RAYSPICTIBLE
F'R TO BE AN ATHLETE. AN ATHLETE WAS ALWAYS A MAN THAT WAS
NOT STHRONG ENOUGH F'R WURRUK. FRACTIONS DHRUV HIM FR'M
SCHOOL AN' TH' VAGRANCY LAWS DHRUV HIM TO BASEBALL."
NO, THE ATHLETE TODAY IS A SHINING FIGURE, A MAN MUCH
ADMIRED FOR HIS PROWESS AND HIS FEATS OF SKILL AND STRENGTH.
AMERICANS AGAIN HAVE COME, AS IN THE DAY OF TEDDY
ROOSEVELT, TO EMBRACE WHAT TEDDY CALLED "THE STRENUOUS LIFE."
THIS, OF COURSE, TENDS TO PROMOTE PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR
THE CENTRAL PURPOSE OF YOUR ORGANIZATION-- THE N.A.C.D.A.--
WHICH AS t UNDERSTAND IT IS TO ENHANCE THE ROLE OF INTERCOL-
LEGIATE ATHLETICS IN THE TOTAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM OF OUR
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES.
GERALD R.FORD LIBRARY
THIS IMPOSES A GREAT BURDEN ON EACH OF YOU, MORE SO THAN
-13-
EVER BEFORE. LIKE A MAN ELECTED TO PUBLIC OFFICE, YOU MUST
SHOW THAT YOU DESERVE THE CONFIDENCE THE PEOPLE HAVE PLACED
IN YOU. THERE IS NO DISILLUSIONMENT GREATER THAN CONFIDENCE
MISPLACED. Today The Congress & politics & Padam have a bad emoge because of Senator Dodd
as you
clayton Powell. But don't judge all fars.
BUT I KNOW YOU WILL, MEASURE UP TO THAT RESPONSIBILITY.
YOU HAVE TREMENDOUS RESPECT FOR RULES OF CONDUCT, AND YOU KNOW
THAT THE ONLY CODE WORTH LIVING UP TO IS A CODE THAT GLOWS
WITH HONESTY AS WELL AS THE DETERMINATION TO WIN.
I HAVE DESCRIBED YOU AS BUILDERS OF MEN. INDEED YOU ARE.
YOU ARE SHAPING MEN WHO MAY WELL BECOME LEADERS IN GOVERNMENT,
MEN WHO LIKE YOU WILL BE BURDENED WITH A PUBLIC TRUST.
A NATION IS SIMPLY A COLLECTION OF INDIVIDUALS. THUS
OUR NATION IS ONLY AS STRONG AS THE INDIVIDUALS WHO COLLECTIVELY
COMPRISE IT.
IT WAS BECAUSE TEDDY ROOSEVELT RECOGNIZED THIS/THAT HE
ADVOCATED "THE STRENUOUS LIFE," AND WARNED HIS FELLOW-AMERICANS
-14-
THAT
IF WE SEEK MERELY SWOLLEN, SLOTHFUL EASE AND IGNOBLE
PEACE, IF WE SHRINK FROM THE HARD CONTESTS WHERE MEN MUST
WIN AT THE HAZARD OF THEIR LIVES AND AT THE RISK OF ALL THEY
HOLD DEAR, THEN BOLDER AND STRONGER PEOPLES WILL PASS US BY,
AND WILL WIN FOR THEMSELVES THE DOMINATION OF THE WORLD."
I HOPE YOU WILL CONTINUE TO INSTILL AN INDOMITABLE
SPIRIT IN THE THOUSANDS OF YOUNG MEN WHOSE LIVES YOU INFLUENCE--
THE KIND OF SPIRIT THAT BUILT AMERICA AND MADE IT GREAT. Chundhell
THIS IS THE SPIRIT THAT TEDDY ROOSEVELT DISTILLED INTO
A FEW WORDS WHEN HE SAID: "FAR BETTER IT IS TO DARE MIGHTY
THINGS, TO WIN GLORIOUS TRIUMPHS, EVEN THOUGH CHECKERED WITH
FAILURE, THAN TO TAKE RANK WITH THOSE POOR SPIRITS WHO NEITHER
ENJOY MUCH NOR SUFFER MUCH, BECAUSE THEY LIVE IN THE GRAY
TWILIGHT THAT KNOWS NOT VICTORY NOR DEFEAT."
-15-
I OFFER YOU THIS CHALLENGE - THAT YOU IMBUE EVERY YOUNG
MAN WHO COMES WITHIN YOUR ORBIT WITH THE SPIRIT OF DARING,
THE SPIRIT OF DETERMINATION, THE SPIRIT OF UNYIELDING HONESTY
AND THE SPIRIT OF VICTORY. FOR IT IS MEN LIKE YOU WHO CAN GIVE
AMERICA THE BACKBONE IT NEEDS IN THESE TIMES OF CRISIS. AND
WITH BACKBONE LIKE THAT, NONE NEED SAY, "PLEASE PASS THE
LINIMENT."
-END-
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
SPEECH BY REP. GERALD R. FORD (R.-MICH.)
BEFORE THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGIATE DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS
JUNE 20, 1967, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
Gentlemen: I want first of all to tell you how happy I am to be here with
you tonight. It's not too often that I get a chance to speak before such a con-
genial audience. It's real nice being with so many old friends. It's like Old
Home Week--not like on some occasions when I feel like a person of doubtful origin
at a family reunion.
As you may know, it was Forest Evashevski who contacted me about being your
guest. That was mighty broad-minded of Evvy, since, after all, he is married to
the daughter of one of the most prominent Democrats the state of Michigan ever
snet to the United States Senate.
I'll say this for Evvy...the way he ran interference for Tom Harmon at Michigan,
I sure could use him on my side in the House of Representatives. But as I look
across the aisle, the Democrats may have a great need now and in the future.
I'm not running Evvy for Congress, but I'll bet if he were there he would
increase the competition. And that would be all to the good no matter which side
he was on.
It's been my experience that men who know what vigorous competition means,
in sports or any other arena of battle, are men who can meet the challenge in a
time of crisis.
The best example I know to illustrate this point is the heroism displayed
in Vietnam late last year by Army's "Lonely End," Bill Carpenter.
It was no accident that Capt. Bill Carpenter had the courage to call for
fire on his own position when that position was overrun by the enemy. That kind
of gallantry and will to win became ingrained in Bill Carpenter on the football
field. His experience in competitive sports conditioned him for that tremendously
difficult decision.
As all of you know, football is my first love--so I'm sure you'll forgive
me if I talk football to a group of athletic directors. After all, the only
reason I went from coaching into politics was for the job security.
This is a day when too many colleges and universities tend to play down
football and the values to be derived from good, clean, hard competition on the
playing field. I firmly believe that's wrong.
I can remember when Michigan State University was a little agricultural
school known with some scorn by the intellectuals at the University of Michigan
as Michigan's cow college. That was before Clarence Biggie Munn, Duffy Daugherty
and, I guess, President John Hannah. Since then, Michigan State has blazed LEORD
(more)
GERALD LIBRARY
-2-
name in letters scoreboard-high clear across the country.
What's wrong with that? Not a thing. There's a lot right with it, though,
because Michigan State has grown in every other way right along with its foot-
ball fortunes. It has become an outstanding school in many other respects--in
the fields of scholarship as well as sports.
I mention Michigan State because it is a relative newcomer to the ranks of
big universities. I have refrained from using my own alma mater, Michigan, as
an example because Michigan's greatness--on the gridiron and in the academic world--
goes back so far.
Of course I go back pretty far myslef. I played football when the ball was
round. That was when the guys who turned "pro" got $200 a game, which was what
Curley Lambeau of the Packers and Potsy Clarke of the Lions offered me to play for
them in 1935. I probably wasn't worth even that much. Sometimes I wonder what
would have happened to me if I had taken Curley or Potsy's offer instead of
joining Ducky Pond at Yale. Maybe, like Whizzer White, I would have wound up
on the Supreme Court.
Every so often a campaign gets under way at some of the colleges to
de-emphasize football on other than financial grounds. This pseudo-sophisticate
moralism and intellectualism leaves me cold. I have never felt that this makes
any sense as long as the game is played honestly and fairly. What's wrong with
good, hard recruitment and athletic scholarships as long as the athlete with
respectable grades who is thus attracted to a school gets a good education? Just
because a kid grows up in the coal fields of Pennsylvania or near the iron ore
pits in Minnesota or Michigan doesn't mean he can't score in the classroom as
well as on the playing field. Thank the good Lord athletic scholarships have
given so many deserving kids the opportunity to get an education. The Nation
is better for it.
Football is a great game. It's a game that builds men. It's a great leveler.
There are no social barriers on the playing field.
It's a game that teaches a man to work hard, to drive himself to the point of
near exhaustion, to engage in drudgery for the sake of the automatic perfection
that can be turned on by instinctive command.
It's a game that forces a man to discipline both his mind and his body,
tuning himself to a sharpness that can only come when a man is master of himself.
It's a game where a man must be part of a team if he's going to play at all,
a game where he shares the thrill that comes from working with others in a meaningful
(more)
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cause, striving with others to attain a glorious goal.
It's a game that teaches a man the value of desire, the importance of want-
ing to win, and at the same time makes him big enough to accept defeat and then
come storming back.
The major reason the Israelis won the tremendous victory they did in the
Mideast recently was their esprit d'corps.
Football is much like war. To win you have to hit hard and hit fast--and
the guys who come out on top are heroes.
Somebody once said that it's not important whether you win or lose, it's how
you play the game. I know what he was trying to say, and in principle I agree
with him. But at the same time let's not discount the importance of winning in
either athletics or politics. I ought to know--the University of Michigan team
on which I was voted most valuable player lost most of its games that season--in
fact we won one and lost seven. In my 19 years in the House, my party has been
the minority all but two.
To say it doesn't matter whether you win is nonsense. That's the name of
the game. If you believe in your principles--political or football strategy--
winning is the crucial test.
It's the will to win that fires men up and inspires them to play over their
heads, to be more than mere men. That's the kind of spirit that prevails over
great odds on the playing field, the battle field and the political arena.
It goes without saying that football should be secondary to the reason a
player is in college. He's in college to get an education. Athletic competence
and scholastic achievement are not incompatible.
Fortunately, the public is beginning to realize this fact of life.
Part of this acceptance by the public has come simply through the knowledge
that many college athletes also are good students and fine citizens!
At the same time, the appetite of Americans for the natural glory that
surrounds the playing field has grown in recent years.
Television has had much to do with this desirable result. Football, basket-
ball, and now the new national craze, soccer, are getting the kind of exposure
that only baseball used to enjoy.
There are countless Americans who used to say they were interested only in
college football, people who spoke derisively of professionals as the "play for
pay" boys.
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FORD
LIBRARY
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All has changed. We have entered into a great era in sports history.
Americans now recognize the beauty in athletics, whether the contest is for money
or not. But always the necessary ingredient for public approval is desire and the
will to win. If it's a pro contest, the pro's have to look like they're giving
it what's known as "the old college try." From my observations they do give it
their best.
It is a great era in sports, too, because the reçords just don't stand very
long.
Competition is shattering nearly every record. There doesn't seem to be any
limit to human achievement in track and field performances. And the American
people are eating it up.
Television has not only educated the fans, it has improved the players. The
kids watch the pro's on TV and then see if they can't execute the same plays and
maneuvers.
I mentioned earlier that I played football when the ball was round. People
who didn't know football in those days think I'm kidding. But you fellows know
that the equipment has changed--not only in football but in other sports. And
the results are exciting.
Maybe oldtimers like me don't think it's exactly fair but polevaulters now
are using bamboo, steel, aluminum and fiber glass instead of the old hickory or
ash poles, the football is a lot easier to throw because it's been shortened and
narrowed twice since 1930, the new baseball compared with that of the old times
is so lively they call it "the rabbit ball," and so on down the line.
This is the age of specialization. As you well know, the coaches who work
under you athletic directors are trained physiologist, specialists in some field,
many of them Ph. D.'s.
All of these developments are wholesome. They are good for the country. What
pleases me most is that being an athlete has become respectable because sports
now are attracting superior talent. The athlete today really has to measure up
in the broadest sense.
We have come a long way since Peter Finley Dunne, who became famous for his
"Observations of Mr. Dooley," made this comment about athletics:
"In me younger days it was not considered rayspictible f'r to be an athlete.
An athlete was always a man that was not sthrong enough f'r wurruk. Fractions
dhruv him fr'm school an' th' vagrancy laws dhruv him to baseball."
No, the athlete today is a shining figure, a man much admired for his
prowess and his feats of skill and strength.
(more)
GEBALO, FORD LIBRARY
LIBRARY
-5-
Americans again have come, as in the day of Teddy Roosevelt, to embrace what
FORD
Teddy called "The Strenuous Life."
This, of course, tends to promote public support for the central purpose of
your organization-- N.A.C.D.A.--which as I understand it is to enhance the
role of intercollegiate athletics in the total educational program of our colleges
and universities.
This imposes a great burden on each of you, more so than ever before. Like
a man elected to public office, you must show that you deserve the confidence the
people have placed in you. There is no disillusionment greater than confidence
misplaced.
But I know you will measure up to that responsibility. You have tremendous
respect for rules of conduct, and you know that the only code worth living up to
is a code that glows with honesty as well as the determination to win.
I have described you as builders of men. Indeed you are. You are shaping
men who may well become leaders in government, men who like you will be burdened
with a public trust.
A nation is simply a collection of individuals. Thus our Nation is only as
strong as the individuals who collectively comprise it.
It was because Teddy Roosevelt recognized this that he advocated "The Strenuous
Life," and warned his fellow-Americans that
"If we seek merely swollen, slothful ease and ignoble peace, if we shrink
from the hard contests where men must win at the hazard of their lives and at the
risk of all they hold dear, then bolder and stronger peoples will pass us by,
and will win for themselves the domination of the world."
I hope you will continue to instill an indomitable spirit in the thousands
of young men whose lives you influence--the kind of spirit that built America and
made it great.
This is the spirit that Teddy Roosevelt distilled into a few words when he
said: "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though
checkered with failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither
enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not
victory nor defeat."
I offer you this challenge--that you imbue every young man who comes within
your orbit with the spirit of daring, the spirit of determination, the spirit of
unyielding honesty and the spirit of victory. For it is men like you who can give
America the backbone it needs in these times of crisis. And with backbone like
that, none need say, "Please pass the liniment."
####
SPEECH BY REP. GERALD R. FORD (R.-MICH.)
BEFORE THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGIATE DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS
JUNE 20, 1967, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
Gentlemen: I want first of all to tell you how happy I am to be here with
you tonight. It's not too often that I get a chance to speak before such a con-
genial audience. It's real nice being with so many old friends. It's like Old
Home Week--not like on some occasions when I feel like a person of doubtful origin
at a family reunion.
As you may know, it was Forest Evashevski who contacted me about being your
guest. That was mighty broad-minded of Evvy, since, after all, he is married to
the daughter of one of the most prominent Democrats the state of Michigan ever
snet to the United States Senate.
I'11 say this for Evvy. the way he ran interference for Tom Harmon at Michigan,
I sure could use him on my side in the House of Representatives. But as I look
across the aisle, the Democrats may have a great need now and in the future.
I'm not running Evvy for Congress, but I'll bet if he were there he would
increase the competition. And that would be all to the good no matter which side
he was on.
It's been my experience that men who know what vigorous competition means,
in sports or any other arena of battle, are men who can meet the challenge in a
time of crisis.
The best example I know to illustrate this point is the heroism displayed
in Vietnam late last year by Army's "Lonely End," Bill Carpenter.
It was no accident that Capt. Bill Carpenter had the courage to call for
fire on his own position when that position was overrun by the enemy. That kind
of gallantry and will to win became ingrained in Bill Carpenter on the football
field. His experience in competitive sports conditioned him for that tremendously
difficult decision.
As all of you know, football is my first love--so I'm sure you'll forgive
me if I talk football to a group of athletic directors. After all, the only
reason T went from coaching into politics was for the job security.
This is a day when too many colleges and universities tend to play down
football and the values to be derived from good, clean, hard competition on the
playing field. I firmly believe that's wrong.
I can remember when Michigan State University was a little agricultural
school known with some scorn by the intellectuals at the University of Michigan
as Michigan's COW college. That was before Clarence Biggie Munn, Duffy Daugherty
and, I guess, President John Hannah. Since then, Michigan State has blazed
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BERALD FORD LIBRARY
-2-
name in letters scoreboard-high clear across the country.
What's wrong with that? Not a thing. There's a lot right with it, though,
because Michigan State has grown in every other way right along with its foot-
ball fortunes. It has become an outstanding school in many other respects--in
the fields of scholarship as well as sports.
I mention Michigan State because it is a relative newcomer to the ranks of
big universities. I have refrained from using my own alma mater, Michigan, as
an example because Michigan's greatness--on the gridiron and in the academic world--
goes back so far.
Of course I go back pretty far myslef. I played football when the ball was
round. That was when the guys who turned "pro" got $200 a game, which was what
Curley Lambeau of the Packers and Potsy Clarke of the Lions offered me to play for
them in 1935. I probably wasn't worth even that much. Sometimes I wonder what
would have happened to me if I had taken Curley or Potsy's offer instead of
joining Ducky Pond at Yale. Maybe, like Whizzer White, I would have wound up
on the Supreme Court.
Every so often a campaign gets under way at some of the colleges to
de-emphasize football on other than financial grounds. This pseudo-sophisticate
moralism and intellectualism leaves me cold. I have never felt that this makes
any sense as long as the game is played honestly and fairly. What's wrong with
good, hard recruitment and athletic scholarships as long as the athlete with
respectable grades who is thus attracted to a school gets a good education?
Just
because a kid grows up in the coal fields of Pennsylvania or near the iron ore
pits in Minnesota or Michigan doesn't mean he can't score in the classroom as
well as on the playing field.
Thank the good Lord athletic scholarships have
given so many deserving kids the opportunity to get an education. The Nation
is better for it.
Football is a great game. It's a game that builds men. It's a great leveler.
There are no social barriers on the playing field.
It's a ga. that teaches a man to work hard, to drive himself to the point of
near exhaustion, to engage in drudgery for the sake of the automatic perfection
that can be turned on by instinctive command.
It's a game that forces a man to discipline both his mind and his body,
tuning himself to a sharpness that can only come when a man is master of himself.
It's a game where a man must be part of a team if he's going to play at all,
a game where he shares the thrill that comes from working with others in a meaningful
(more)
BERALD FORD LIBRARY
-3-
cause, striving with others to attain a glorious goal.
It's a game that teaches a man the value of desire, the importance of want-
ing to win, and at the same time makes him big enough to accept defeat and then
come storming back.
The major reason the Israelis won the tremendous victory they did in the
in June of '67
Mideast was their esprit d'corps.
Football is much like war. To win you have to hit hard and hit fast--and
the guys who come out on top are heroes.
Somebody once said that it's not important whether you win or lose, it's how
you play the game. I know what he was trying to say, and in principle I agree
with him. But at the same time let's not discount the importance of winning in
either athletics or politics. I ought to know--the University of Michigan team
on which I was voted most valuable player lost most of its games that season--in
fact we won one and lost seven. In my 19 years in the House, my party has been
the minority all but two.
To say it doesn't matter whether you win is nonsense. That's the name of
the game. If you believe in your principles--political or football strategy--
winning is the crucial test.
It's the will to win that fires men up and inspires them to play over their
heads, to be more than mere men. That's the kind of spirit that prevails over
great odds on the playing field, the battle field and the political arena.
It goes without saying that football should be secondary to the reason a
player is in school, college. He's in school sollege to get an education. Athletic competence
and scholastic achievement are not incompatible.
Fortunately, the public is beginning to realize this fact of life.
Part of this acceptance by the public has come simply through the knowledge
that many college athletes also are good students and fine citizens!
At the same time, the appetite of Americans for the natural glory that
surrounds the playing field has grown in recent years.
lelevision has had much to do with this desirable result. Football, basket-
ball, and now the new national craze, soccer, are getting the kind of exposure
that only baseball used to enjoy.
There are countless Americans who used to say they were interested only in
college football, people who spoke derisively of professionals as the "play for
pay" boys.
(more)
GERALD LIBRARY R. FORD
-4-
All has changed. We have entered into a great era in sports history.
Americans now recognize the beauty in athletics, whether the contest is for money
or not. But always the necessary ingredient for public approval is desire and the
will to win. If it's a pro contest, the pro's have to look like they're giving
it what's known as "the old college try." From my observations they do give it
their best.
It is a great ora in sports, too, because the records just don't stand very
long.
Competition 1s shattering nearly every record. There doesn't seem to be any
limit to human achievement in track and field performances. And the American
people are eating it up.
Television has not only educated the fans, it has improved the players. The
kids watch the pro's on TV and then see if they can't execute the same plays and
maneuvers.
I mentioned earlier that I played football when the ball was round. People
who didn't know football in those days think I'm kidding. But you fellows know
that the equipment has changed--not only in football but in other sports. And
the results are exciting.
Maybe oldtimers like me don't think it's exactly fair but polevaulters now
are using bamboo, steel, aluminum and fiber glass instead of the old hickory or
ash poles, the football is a lot easier to throw because it's been shortened and
narrowed twice since 1930, the new baseball compared with that of the old times
is so lively they call it "the rabbit ball," and so on down the line.
This is the age of specialization. As you well know, the coaches who work
under you athletic directors are trained physiologist, specialists in some field,
many of them Ph. D.'s.
All of these developments are wholesome. They are good for the country. What
pleases me most is that being an athlete has become respectable because sports
now are attracting superior talent. The athlete today really has to measure up
in the roadest sense.
We have come a long way since Peter Finley Dunne, who became famous for his
"Observations of Mr. Dooley," made this comment about athletics:
"In me younger days it was not considered rayspictible f'r to be an athlete.
An athlete was always a man that was not sthrong enough f'r wurruk. Fractions
dhruv him fr'm school an' th' vagrancy laws dhruv him to baseball."
No, the athlete today is a shining figure, a man much admired for his
prowess and his feats of skill and strength.
(more)
QERALO FORD VIBRARY
-5-
Americans again have come, as in the day of Teddy Roosevelt, to embrace what
Teddy called "The Strenuous Life."
This, of course, tends to promote public support for the central purpose of
your organization-- the N.A.C.D.A. which as I understand it is to enhance the
role of intercollegiate athletics in the total educational program of our colleges
and universities.
This imposes a great burden on each of you, more so than ever before. Like
a man elected to public office, you must show that you deserve the confidence the
friends people have placed in you. There is no disillusionment greater than confidence
misplaced.
But I know you will measure up to that responsibility. You have tremendous
respect for rules of conduct, and you know that the only code worth living up to
is a code that glows with honesty as well as the determination to win.
I have described you as builders of men. Indeed you are. You are shaping
men who may well become leaders in government, men who like you will be burdened
with a public trust.
A nation is simply a collection of individuals. Thus our Nation is only as
strong as the individuals who collectively comprise it.
It was because Teddy Roosevelt recognized this that he advocated "The Strenuous
Life," and warned his fellow-Americans that
"If we seek merely swollen, slothful ease and ignoble peace, if we shrink
from the hard contests where men must win at the hazard of their lives and at the
risk of all they hold dear, then bolder and stronger peoples will pass us by,
and will win for themselves the domination of the world."
I hope you will continue to instill an indomitable spirit in the thousands
of young men whose lives you influence--the kind of spirit that built America and
made it great.
This is the spirit that Teddy Roosevelt distilled into a few words when he
said: "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though
checkered with failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither
enjoy much nor suffer-much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not
victory nor defeat."
I offer you this challenge--that you imbue every young man who comes within
your orbit with the spirit of daring, the spirit of determination, the spirit of
unyielding honesty and the spirit of victory. For it is men like you who can give
America the backbone it needs in these times of crisis. And with backbone like
that, none need say, "Please pass the liniment."
####
FORD LIBRARY
mpls
Speech