Early Life
Gerald R. Ford Jr. was born with the name Leslie Lynch King Jr. on July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska. He didn’t keep his name nor his hometown for long. After just being born, he was taken away by his mother, Dorothy Ayer Gardner, to her mother and father home located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dorthy was a woman who would not take any form of abuse, which is why she divorced Leslie’s father, Leslie Lynch King Sr. in that same year. She’d then gotten married to Gerald Ford, he was a local paint company salesman, from this was where Gerald "Jerry" Jr. got his name, though this was not made legal until he had turn 22. …show more content…
In his high school years, Jerry became a popular sports role model, as he was captain of his high school football team and he developed a strong interest in the Eagle Scout. His athletic prowess as a Wolverine at the University of Michigan eared him the designation of Most Valuable Play. However, instead of following a professional football career that was offered by the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers, Ford decided to take to Yale University with his economics degree, where he attended law school and worked as a football and boxing