Ford's N.C. connections included stint with Tar Heels

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Gerald Ford first came to North Carolina as a young law student. He returned as a Navy trainee, a president, a candidate, and a loving father.

His ties to the state were most pronounced when it came to Wake Forest University, where his eldest son, Mike, earned a degree and now is director of student development. Ford and his wife, Betty, served as honorary co-chairs of the school's first Parents' Council, an advisory group started in the 1970s.

Ford, who died yesterday at the age of 93, came to North Carolina during World War II, first to attend law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He then attended Navy pre-flight school in Chapel Hill.

The star center on the University of Michigan's 1932 and 1933 national champion football teams helped coach North Carolina's football, boxing and swimming teams while he was at pre-flight school.

Mike Ford graduated from Wake Forest in 1972 and his wife, Gail, also is a Wake Forest graduate. Gerald Ford, then still a member of Congress, spoke at his son's commencement. School spokesman Kevin Cox says that in the 1990s, Ford served as honorary chair of a capital campaign for Wake Forest.