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Mike Ford is one of the elite quarterbacks in SMU history. Thirty years after his senior season with the Ponies, Ford's name remains prominent in the team's record books. But at the end of that 1980 season, Ford was drafted into the NFL, and left the Hilltop without a degree.

That will change this weekend. Thanks in part to a chance meeting with SMU president R. Gerald Turner, Ford came back to school this semester to complete the work necessary to graduate, which he will do Saturday. Ford visited with PonyFans.com to discuss why he came back after so many years, and how his perspective about education changed over the years.

Enjoy!

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Congrats to Mike on earning his degree. Class act and great QB. And glad he is coming around again.

In many ways this was the best piece you have written. It is no secrect that many of us feel the university community was split as a result of the university's mis-managment of the years post the dp. For Dr. Turner to welcome back Mike and other players, to encourage and manage the degree programs to accomodate the completion of their degrees is terrific. Congratulations to Mike, Dr. Turner and SMU.

I loved watching him throw the ball. Conratulations to him on all of his accomplishments, and welcome back.

Great story!

Good job, Mike Ford!

But a couple of trivia questions please.

What QBs returned from the previous year's squad the year Ford came in, and what happened to them?

Who was (were) the other QB(s) signed the same year as Ford and what happened to them?

I don't remember, but perhaps someone can help.

Wow what an inspiring story! Thanks for the article PP, and kudos go out to Mike Ford who is a real character, and also to Turner, who not only recognized Mike but followed up and allowed Mike to graduate from SMU!

No Quarter wrote:Good job, Mike Ford!

But a couple of trivia questions please.

What QBs returned from the previous year's squad the year Ford came in, and what happened to them?

Who was (were) the other QB(s) signed the same year as Ford and what happened to them?

I don't remember, but perhaps someone can help.

From memory

Tony Black (Fr 76) (started against TTU in '76) transferred and played at Miss State. He had a girlfriend there and was from Miss I believe.

Mike Hennessy (Fr 76) Stayed Ford's Fr year then left school and went back to California. Do not know if he played out there or not.

I am not sure about Ford Fr class and the other QBs there.

Its never to late to finish!

Comparing your coverage of the Mustangs to everyone else's is like watching Kobe Bryant or LeBron James play H-O-R-S-E against a bunch of guys from the local gym, or maybe watching the guys on the office softball team trying to hit pitches thrown by Roy Halladay. It's not even close.

The link to his ranch is wrong, I googled it and found this:

http://www.riorojorancho.com

You're absolutely right — should be corrected now.
Thanks

Excellent article as I never knew what became of him after his NFL days. Found out after reading the article that my son-in-law, who lives in NJ and is an avid hunter and fisherman, was at Mike's ranch successfully hunting 2 years ago. Wish I had known of the connection as the son-in-law was a small college All-American football player.

Cool! This will help the graduation rate of our great and legendary Class of 1981-

Also in addition to Tony Black, SMU had some pretty good QBs sitting on the bench behind Ford who got a shot when Ford got hurt in 1979. Mike Fisher who I thought under the right system had all the tools to be an NFL QB. Big Strong kid. And then there was Jim Bob Taylor who played most of the end of the 1979 season-but finally transferred to -what was it-Georgia Tech and became ACC Player of the Year and NFL Draft Choice. We used to have incredible depth. We recruited 4 Deep

Technically, wouldn’t this help the class of '11's graduation rate? It sure would look neat if all kids graduated and we had Ford in that class and could claim a 110% graduation rate in '11.

Also, Ford was granted a redshirt following his injury in ’79. He could have been (if not drafted) in the class of ’82.