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Barack Obama speaks at Ryan Field in 2006
What better way to angle an inauguration day post than dive into the NU archives and tie current and former el presidentes to Northwestern athletics? There are several ties between actual US presidents and Northwestern University, but only four, that I know of, that connect presidents to Northwestern athletics. Below are the ties to the Commander in Chief and NU athletics in chronological order:
Gerald Ford
The former Michigan center and linebacker is the only US president to actually tackle a Northwestern player and that he did. President Ford faced Northwestern on three occasions – 1932, 1933 and 1934 and went a perfect 3-0. His first two match-ups were part of national championship teams while his senior season, 1934, was part of a dismal year in Ann Arbor. Ford only played at Dyche Stadium in one of the three games – 1933, a 13-0 Michigan victory – and thus the only president to actually suit-up in a game in Evanston.
Herbert Hoover
The president who stepped into the Oval Office in similarly tough economic times (1929-1933) is also the only US president to attend a Northwestern football game. President Hoover is pictured below at the Northwestern-Indiana game at Dyche Stadium in 1940. Hoover is all the way to the left and is flanked by then Northwestern president Franklyn Blyss Snyder (center), along with his predecessor, Walter Dill Scott (to Snyder’s right) The photo is courtesy of Northwestern University archives and was taken by Jim Bixby, then an undergrad student.
photo courtesy of NU archives/Jim Bixby Collection
George W. Bush
The famous flip-flop scandal of 2005 put the Northwestern women’s lacrosse national championship in the center of an appropriate dress mess. The inaugural national championship feat caused national news as the women’s team appeared in a photo with President Bush wearing flip-flops and open-toed sandals which drew the ire of Emily Posts from coast to coast. Bush never attended an NU athletic event however.
Barack Obama
We know by the photo above that he has actually been in Ryan Field, however he was delivering a graduation speech in 2006 in which he was bestowed with an honorary degree (in the interest of political fairness, John McCain earned an honorary NU degree in 2005). Barack is believed to be the lone US President to attend a Northwestern basketball game. As Bill Carmody pointed out in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune, he is a big fan of Obama since Barack attended games to see his brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, who was an assistant under Carmody for several years. Robinson is now the head coach at Oregon State.
These four have “direct” ties to NU athletics, but as you can imagine there are many other US Presidents and presidential candidates who have been to NU’s campus. Teddy Roosevelt delivered a speech near University Hall, Eisenhower delivered a speech in Deering Meadow and the likes of Carter, George H. Bush, and Bill Clinton have all been on NU’s campus. Click here to get the presidential history of Northwestern connections. Of course, there are also several connections to presidential candidates including Northwestern graduates Dick Gephardt and Adlai Stevenson, both of whom I’m certain attended Northwestern athletic events.
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