Former Sarasota and Riverview High and USF running back Mike Ford dies at 37

SARASOTA - Sarasota High assistant football coach Dale Boyes first saw it during a midseason practice, a jump cut inside made by Mike Ford that signaled the former Riverview Ram fullback was a fullback no more.

Sarasota head coach Bob Perkins wanted to station Ford alone in the Sailor backfield, six or seven yards behind quarterback Steve Karwatt. He would get the pitch, read the developing hole, then burst through it with an uncommon combination of speed and power.

“But he had a tough time reading holes,” Perkins said. “He had been a fullback in a veer offense.” But the inside jump cut back to the hole Ford executed in practice compelled Boyes, who had coached previous Sailor star running backs Rosey Snipes and Herb Haygood, to issue a tacit warning to future Sarasota opponents.

“It’s over, folks,” Boyes said. “People better get ready.”

Built Ford tough: Record run

No more Bull: Ford kicked off USF team

Earlier this week, the former Ram, Sailor, and South Florida Bull died unexpectedly at age 37. Details have not been released. But to those who both knew him and saw him play, Mike Ford human being surpassed Mike Ford running back.

“He was a tremendous athlete, but he was a better person,” Perkins said. “He treated everybody around him with dignity. He treated everyone as though they were somebody special. He advocated for our backup players. He was always there for those guys.”

After Sailor games, Ford would walk off the field with the Sarasota ball boys, knowing how much that brief interaction meant to them. Following the Sailors’ loss to the Rams in the 2004 regional title game, Ford, happy for his former teammates, hugged many of them, a smile on his face.

“That’s the type of kid Mike Ford was,” Perkins said. “He wanted the best for people.”

“The first thing I would tell you is not anything about his athletic ability,” said David Rosenberg, the Sailors’ defensive coordinator/linebackers coach during Ford’s time at Sarasota. “Mike Ford was a pleasure to be around, and I enjoyed being around Mike Ford. He was a great kid.

Unfortunately, Ford didn’t have this same keen vision off the field.

“Mike was a magnet for bad,” Rosenberg said, “Mike didn’t find bad, but bad found Mike.”

Ford played three years with the USF Bulls, his tenure marked by two suspensions and two arrests for driving-related offenses. In 2010, new head coach Skip Holtz dismissed Ford from the team for violating team rules.

He then played semi-pro football for a time with the Sarasota Millionaires, and had a handful of bouts as a pro boxer as his athletic career after high school never matched his time with the Rams and Sailors.

As a Sailor senior in 2004, Ford ran for 2,836 yards, still the state’s single-season prep record, and 37 touchdowns. He ran for 200 or more yards in 11 consecutive games, a Florida record Ford shares with former Frostproof and NFL running back Travis Henry. In a game against Lely, he ran for 368 yards. In a Sarasota Herald-Tribune story ranking the top 100 all-time football players from Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties, Ford was seventh.

“He was one of the most gifted athletes I’ve ever seen,” Perkins said.

“Mike Ford was the complete package,” said Rosenberg. “Had the speed, had the power, had the vision, all combined. It wasn’t just speed and power. He had vision, and when you have vision as a running back, to me, that’s just as important.”

When Ford was a sophomore at Riverview, Rosenberg remembers playing an eight-man front and telling his Sailor players to dive at the feet of the Rams’ offensive linemen.

“I’m not kidding you,” Rosenberg said. “Dive at the feet of the offensive linemen to create a pile so Mike can’t get going.”

But when Ford joined the Sailors, a gleeful Rosenberg knew how he could help the Sarasota defense.

“Whenever we needed a big play, or we needed something to happen, we used Mike (at linebacker),” Rosenberg said. “He was just better than everybody else.”

“I watched him pick off a pass and return it for a touchdown,” Perkins said. “He was a good outside linebacker. He could play defensive end. He could play safety. He would have lined up anywhere we asked him to.”

But Ford could do the most damage by touching the football as much as possible. He was able to rush for 200 yards a game even when opponents knew he would be getting the ball.

“The mantra was,” former Riverview defensive coordinator Con Nicholas said, “if it’s first and 10, Mike is getting the ball. If it’s third and 25, Mike is getting the ball. Whenever they needed yards, they were going to give the ball to Mike.”

“When I am running the ball, to me, it’s like playing a video game,” Ford said in 2004. “It’s like I have somebody controlling me, and if they want me to run over somebody, it’s going to happen. If they want me to go around you, it’s going to happen.”

Ford played for the Bulls from 2007-09 and racked up 1,502 career rushing yards and 23 rushing touchdowns (tied for fifth-most in program history) on 331 attempts over 34 games. He averaged 10.4 yards per carry over his career, the fifth-most in program history, before his dismissal from the team.

If Ford never became the football player many thought he would beyond high school, he always remained, to the end, everyone’s friend.

“Mike was a wonderful kid,” Nicholas said. “Everybody liked Mike Ford.”

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Former South Florida Bull, Sarasota High football great Mike Ford dies at 37