American Presidents With Sports Ties—Who Played What or Became Owners

If you perused the news headlines recently you may have caught Adam Schefter reporting that President Trump would like the Washington Commanders to name their new stadium after him. Since Commander-in-Chief and sports is in the spotlight we decided it might be fun and an interesting read to you if we briefly discussed American Presidents with sports ties.

Believe it or not, many of our leaders of the free world have been good at sports or really had a passion for them. Can you think of any presidents and what sports they played? Maybe you think of Gerald Ford or Barack Obama swishing some hoops. No matter who comes to mind below you may learn some new fun facts or just enjoy a nice presidential sports refresher.

Presidents Who Played Sports

• Some presidents had very successful sports experiences early in life. For instance, Gerald Ford played Center on two University of Michigan national championship teams and had contracts offered from multiple NFL teams.

• At Yale, George Bush Sr. played first baseman and competed with the Yale team in the first College World Series.

• Dwight D. Eisenhower was a talented running back and linebacker at West Point. He later established the President’s Council on Youth Fitness.

• While at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, Bill Clinton played on the basketball team and competed in rugby.

• John F. Kennedy at Harvard showed off his skills, Kennedy played junior-varsity football but didn’t advance beyond that.

• Barack Obama, although not a starter, was on his Punahou high school Hawaiian state champion basketball team in 1979.

• President George W. Bush played baseball at Yale University. He also played Little League Baseball in Midland, Texas during his childhood. In 1989, an investment group led by George W. Bush purchased the Texas Rangers. Bush was the managing general partner from 1989 to 1994. He sold his stake in the team in 1998, years before becoming President.

• At Archmere Academy in Claymont, Joe Biden played baseball and was a standout halfback and wide receiver on the high school football team.

• Richard Nixon played football at Whittier College. Richard Nixon was a reserve tackle on the varsity squad although, weighing in at just 175lbs, he didn’t see a lot of play time.

• Reagan played at tiny Eureka College in Illinois, but he wasn’t exactly a revelation on the field. He was a lineman at Eureka College in Illinois, but his more well-known football connection is for portraying Notre Dame football great George Gipp in the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American, Reagan was given the nickname “Gipper.”

American Presidents With Sports Ties—Who Played What or Became Owners

What about our current President? Did he play any sports? Yes he did. In fact, the Pro Football Hall of Fame confirms that he played multiple sports. The HOF says, “Trump was a three sport athlete at New York Military Academy and played on the football team for one year.”

As one can see, several of our Presidents participated in sports. From football to basketball they got to show off their athletic side. Some even having a shot at going Pro. Hope you enjoyed our brief tour through sports history. And maybe have come to see these men as being like us, sports fans; we mean a Sports Feen.

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