I actually met President Ford once. Well, "met," in the most-loosely used way. And I can't say it left a good impression, although I can't blame it on him, I guess. It was in Grand Rapids, MI, where he lived. I was a starving art school student at the time, and was leaving the restaurant in the Amway Grand hotel after having treated myself to a nice dinner there (I was also visiting a friend and fellow student who was a waiter at the restaurant). As I was walking away from the restaurant, I noticed several beefy guys in suits with wires in their ears. One of the guys motioned to me, "Excuse me, sir, may I have a word with you?" I walked over, so as to be nice. He then said, "Please stand here, sir." I asked, "What's going on?" and he said, as calmly as he could, "Please stand here, sir" but made it sound like, "and I'll snap your neck if you don't." I complied, taking it as an opportunity to rubberneck. An elderly gent in a suit, hunched over, but still moving on his own power, walked briskly down the secured hallway, past me and my new friend, into the restaurant. I realized it was President Ford. That was more than 10 years ago, and Mr. Ford was already an old man by then. Security guy said, "Thank you, sir," and motioned to leave. I didn't think it was so funny at the time, but I learned from today's news that I actually had a brush with greatness, that Mr. Ford was actually quite an upstanding chap (at least his friend, triumphant Democratic presidential rival and former president Jimmy Carter thought so), and knowing that makes me smile a little.
Former President Ford is a member of the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame (an interesting and amusing list, if you've got time to browse around). Wow, for a 'scholar'-athelete' hall of fame, they sure make mistakes. Both Ken Dryden and James Naismith are Canadians. I was actually in Naismith's hometown this past week, and my 2 nieces both attended Naismith Memorial Public School in Almonte Ontario Canada. Back on topic, God rest Mr. Ford.
I was raised just south of Grand Rapids and when I was young Jerry and Betty Ford used to come over to my grand-parents house for dinner once in a great while when he was a congressman. My grandfather owned a road contracting business and all of his business was with the government, so they were in touch frequently. The few times I met him he always struck me as what he was, an honest, sincere and straightforward man. I was in the Air Force when he became vice-president and then president. I was surprised, but glad it was him. Though like a lot of people I hated that he pardoned Nixon, but looking back it proved to be the right thing to do at the time. He wasn't a great president, but he was exactly the president we needed at the time.
Wow, for a 'scholar'-athelete' hall of fame, they sure make mistakes. Both Ken Dryden and James Naismith are Canadians. And Yasutaka Matsudaira is Japanese. It's the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame.
Yes, Q, but if you go to the page that has the lists of members - it identifies Dryden and Naismith as being from the USA. It's actually quite a funny error for such a named organization. How can you be a scholar if you don't proof read?
Oh, I didn't see that. I just read the bios, and those were accurate. Sorry about the misplaced snark, tommytrump, and thanks for having my back, Weedy.
He was a Midwestern Republican; the party doesn't seem to need (or value) his like anymore. Thank you for your service to your country. R.I.P. Mr. President. Just thought it was worth mentioning that a former amateur boxer named James Brown died on Dec 25th at the age of 73.
...it identifies Dryden and Naismith as being from the USA. I can understand the mistake. Dryden first made his mark as the goaltender for Cornell's NCAA championship team in the late '60s (I saw him play in the NCAA regionals in The Boston Garden and damn near got into a fight with an obnoxious Boston College puke), and Naismith invented basketball while an instructor at the Springfield, MA, YMCA.
No worries, Qbert72, it happens to the best of us now and then. Howard_T, I'm sorry but I can't be as forgiving as you seem to be with regard to the mistake, you'd think a SCHOLAR-athelete HofF would do enough research to establish that their facts are correct at least in regard to their members nationality.
You guys mean to tell me Canada is not a US territory?! What?! When did that happen?!!!!
