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From the National Archives:

Some innovative seaborne #MarchMadness from future President Gerald Ford:

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In conjunction with the exhibit Taking the Seas: The Rise of the American Aircraft Carrier now on display at the Ford Presidential Museum we’ll be posting materials related to the exhibit and Gerald R. Ford’s service in the U.S. Navy over the next few months.

In addition to being a gunnery officer, Gerald Ford also served as an athletic officer aboard the USS Monterey. His responsibilities included keeping the crew fit while at sea. He coordinated physical training and a variety of sports competitions such as volleyball and boxing.

On March 13, 1944, Ford wrote to Lt. Commander Frank Wickhorst of the Division of Training with a report on the newest conditioning exercise he had organized: basketball. He described how they set up the court on the aircraft carrier:

We always use the forward elevator; the dimensions being 40’ by 44’. The elevator is lowered and the backboards are hung from the stanchions on the port and starboard sides of the elevator. Two eyes have been welded on each stanchion — they are on the inside and do not protrude so as to interfere with the operation of the elevator — and on the back of each backboard two hooks have been welded. To rig the court the backboards are hoisted so that the two hook catch on the two eyes. The ease and rapidity of rigging and unrigging are the biggest assets; no more than three minutes required for either operation….

Basketball has been our best conditioning sport for the officers and men get more exercise in a shorter time. We play with either 4 or 5 men on a team; two teams play for 8 minutes, then two more teams take the court, then the first two return and so on. Over a two or three hour period a number of men can get a fine workout.

Although most games were played among the Monterey's crew members, they also competed against other ships when they had the opportunity. Here teams from the USS Monterey and the USS Cascade face off while in the Ulithi Atoll.

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