John R. Ford, ‘72, known to the Yale community as “Jack”, will forever be known in Yale football for his 77-yard touchdown interception return in the Ivy League championship year of 1969. An NCAA Silver Anniversary Award recipient in 1997, Ford financed his Fordham Law School education with three appearances on television’s “Jeopardy” quiz show.
A successful prosecutor in his native New Jersey, Ford entered private practice, becoming a respected trial attorney handling high-profile cases. An author and teacher, he has served as an adjunct professor of law at Fordham and is currently a visitor lecturer at Yale. Ford began his journalism career as a Legal Analyst for WCBS-TV in New York in 1984. In 1991, he helped launch and anchor Court TV, and appeared in a number of award-winning PBS broadcasts.
Ford has appeared on the NBC network as Chief Legal Correspondent, co-Anchor for the Weekend Today Show, and substitute Anchor on Nightly News. Moving to ABC, he served as an Anchor and Correspondent for Good Morning America and 20/20, and later hosted series for ESPN and CBS.
Among Ford’s recognitions are two Emmy Awards, a George Foster Peabody Award, “National Father of the Year” in 1998, People’s Magazine’s 1999 “Sexiest News Anchor”, and the awarding of five honorary degrees. Until his selection of the award, Ford served as Master of Ceremonies for all of the George H.W. Bush ‘48 Lifetime of Leadership Award dinners.
