Ford was an all-city athlete at his high school in Washington, D.C., and attended Morgan State University after graduating in 1944. After a brief stint in the U.S. Navy the following year, he transferred to Michigan, where he played on the Michigan Wolverines football team as an offensive and defensive end. He played for Michigan from 1945 to 1947 and was a member of the undefeated 1947 team that has been selected as the best team in the history of Michigan football.
Ford was traded to the Packers in 1958, but played there just one season before retiring. He worked for the Detroit recreation department from 1963 to 1972. He suffered a heart attack and died in 1972 at age 46.
Despite his accomplishments in college, Ford was passed over in all 32 rounds of the 1948 NFL Draft during a time when most professional teams did not employ African-Americans. (The following year, George Taliaferro became the first African-American to be selected in an NFL draft.) He was selected, however, by the Los Angeles Dons of the rival All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in the third round of the 1948 AAFC Draft. He signed with the Dons in April 1948.
Playing as a right end opposite Joe Aguirre, Ford had 31 catches for 598 yards and seven touchdowns in 1948. As was the case at Michigan, Ford also worked on defense and was one of the AAFC's most successful pass-rushers. The Dons, meanwhile, finished the regular season with a 7–7 record, good for third place in the AAFC West. Ford played basketball in the off-season for the New York Renaissance, an all-black professional team in the National Basketball League. He did not play basketball at Michigan, the Big Ten Conference having maintained racial segregation of basketball until 1950.
Ford had 36 catches for 577 yards and one touchdown in 1949, while the Dons fell to 4–8. The AAFC struggled financially during Ford's time with the Dons. Its teams competed with NFL franchises for fans' attention and player talent – the Dons shared a city with the NFL's Los Angeles Rams.[7] By late 1949, team owners came to an agreement under which the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts joined the NFL and the rest of the league's teams, including the Dons, folded.
After the AAFC disbanded, the Browns selected Ford in the second round of the 1950 AAFC dispersal draft, created to reallocate former Dons, Buffalo Bills and Chicago Hornets players. Ford signed with the Browns in July 1950.
Cleveland head coach Paul Brown converted Ford into solely a defensive end as two-platoon systems gained popularity after 1950. Ford bulked up to 260 pounds and quickly became a fixture of Cleveland's defense alongside linebacker Bill Willis and defensive back Warren Lahr. He was one of five black players for Cleveland – the others were Willis, punter Horace Gillom and fullbacks Emerson Cole and Marion Motley – at a time when many other teams had never signed a black player. The Browns, in fact, had roughly a third of the black players in the NFL on their roster. Cleveland sports writer Chuck Heaton later recalled that Ford was "a leader, particularly with the black players on the squad."
Led by an offense that featured Motley, quarterback Otto Graham and ends Mac Speedie and Dante Lavelli, the 1950 Browns finished the regular season with a 10–2 record and won the 1950 NFL Championship Game over the Los Angeles Rams.
In a mid-October game against the Chicago Cardinals, an elbow by Pat Harder broke Ford's nose, cheekbone, and maxilla (upper jaw), knocked out two teeth, loosened several teeth and chipped another. Ford, who had been fighting with Harder throughout the game, punched him following the play, resulting in a penalty, his ejection from the game and a $50 ($563 in 2021 dollars) fine. NFL commissioner Bert Bell withdrew the fine when the damage to Ford's face was revealed. Ford's facial injuries were so severe that a plastic surgery was required, "virtually rebuilding the big end's face." The Browns' long-time team doctor, Vic Ippolito, described Ford's injuries as "a sickening sight."
Because of the injury, Ford started only four regular-season games in 1950. However, he asked to be reinstated for the 1950 NFL Championship Game. Head coach Paul Brown agreed to allow Ford to suit up after receiving approval from the team doctor and arranging for a special mask to be built to protect Ford from further injury. Ford had been on a liquid diet until late November and dropped from 240 to 215 pounds, though he was back up to 223 pounds shortly before the championship game. As the championship game got underway, Ford sat on the bench as the Rams moved the ball 82 yards down the field for a touchdown. Browns head coach Paul Brown knew the defense had to tighten, and he called on Ford to enter the game. The Cleveland Plain Dealer later called this "one of Len Ford's great moments." Paul Brown stated that Ford "showed me that day he really was a man." Brown later recalled that Ford was the team's "only real hope of plugging a hole" and recalled one sequence as a defining moment in the game.
The Browns' defense held the Rams scoreless in the fourth quarter, and the Browns won the championship game by a 30-28 score in their first season in the league.
Ford continued to excel as a pass-rusher in 1951, when the Browns again advanced to the NFL Championship Game but lost to the Rams. He recovered four fumbles during the season and was named a first-team All-Pro by both the Associated Press (AP) and the United Press International (UPI). He was also named to the Pro Bowl, the NFL's all-star game. Ford's dominating play allowed Brown to assign him to two offensive linemen, giving Cleveland the latitude to put four men on the line and use three linebackers in what is now known as the 4–3 defense. Cleveland's defensive coach Blanton Collier later recalled the thinking behind moving Ford: "We knew we had to get him in closer where his talents as a pass rusher could best be utilized. So we moved both tackles in and dropped the linebackers off the outside. It may have been the beginning of today's 4–3 defense." Collier also noted that "Len was very aggressive and had that touch of meanness in him that you find in most defensive players."
The 1952 Browns had eight regular-season wins and won the NFL's East Division, but lost to the Detroit Lions in the 1952 NFL Championship Game. Ford, meanwhile, extended his run of dominance against opposing offenses in an era before the quarterback sack was a recorded statistic. For the second consecutive year, he was named a first-team All-Pro by both the AP and UPI and was selected for the Pro Bowl.
The 1953 Browns compiled an 11-1 record and again advanced to the NFL Championship Game, losing to the Detroit Lions. For the third consecutive year, Ford was named a first-team All-Pro by both the AP and UPI and was selected for the Pro Bowl.
Willis and Motley retired after the 1953 season, but Ford and Don Colo continued to anchor the defense alongside Lahr in the secondary. The 1954 Browns lost two of their first three games, but finished the season with a 9–3 record and returned to win the 1954 NFL Championship Game over the Lions.[54] Ford had two interceptions in the Browns' 56–10 win over the Lions, including one which he returned 45 yards to set a new NFL playoff record. Ford recovered a career-high five fumbles in 1954, and he was selected as a first-team All-Pro by the AP and UPI for the fourth year in a row. He was also selected to play in his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl.
Graham and many of the players that had helped propel the Browns to a series of championship game appearances retired before the 1956 season. The 1956 team finished 5–7 that year, its first-ever losing record.
By 1957, there was speculation that Ford, then age 31, might not make the Browns' roster. Ford arrived at training camp well above his playing weight, and rookie Bob Mischak was given Ford's spot in August. When Mischak withdrew from the team, the spot was awarded to another rookie, Paul Wiggin. Ford worked to shed pounds during training camp and worked to train the young defensive players, including Wiggin and Bill Quinlan. Rookie running back Jim Brown recalled that Ford pulled him aside during the 1957 training camp and gave him advice on dealing with the Browns' head coach Paul Brown. Ford advised the rookie to keep his mouth shut and do as the coach set during practice and waiting until game day: "Run it your way in the game and hope it works, and if it does, don't say anything. Just make your yardage and act like it was a mistake."
Ford was slowed for several weeks during the 1957 season by a severely bruised shoulder, but the Browns, led by Jim Brown, reached the 1957 NFL Championship Game, losing to the Lions. Cleveland's defense allowed the fewest points in the NFL in six of Ford's eight seasons with the team.
In May 1958, the Browns traded Ford to the Green Bay Packers in exchange for a draft choice. Green Bay coach Ray McLean said at the time that he acquired Ford for his talent at putting pressure on the quarterback and noted that "he's one of the toughest guys in the league to block because of his speed, size and agility." The 1958 Green Bay team won just one game in Ford's lone season there. Ford suffered multiple broken fingers before the last game of the 1958 season, and, because he was unable to play, the Packers refused to pay Ford the final $916.66 due on his contract. In 1961, Ford sued the Packers in Wayne County Circuit Court in Detroit to collect the $916.66 plus $10,000 for alleged damage to his reputation caused by the Packers' releasing him.
Ford recovered 20 fumbles in his career, an NFL record at the time he retired as a player. He was successful in part because of his combination of quickness and size. Few players of his era who were as tall and big as he was could move as fast; only Larry Brink of the Rams was close to him in proportions.
In 1969, Ford placed second in voting for the greatest defense end in NFL history. He was edged out by Gino Marchetti. He and Marchetti were selected as the defensive ends on the National Football League 1950s All-Decade Team.
In 1976, Ford was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was selected for induction by the 27-man media board that had responsibility for selections at that time.
He was also inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1996.
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