ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jeff Ford, coauthor of The Lone Wolverine: Tracking Michigan’s Most
Elusive Animal
Jeff Ford was born August 28th, 1965 in Saginaw and attended school at
Saginaw Swan Valley where his first passion was sports- becoming the first
athlete at Swan Valley to be nominated Most Valuable Player his senior year in
all three sports he participated in: football, basketball, and track & field (in 1983).
He went on to play football at Saginaw Valley State University and three years of
semi-pro football for the Bay City Brahmas, when it all ended abruptly with a
compression fracture in the fifth cervical vertebrae of his neck during the third
game of the season against Grand Rapids Crush. With the sudden end of his
sports participation, Ford became solely interested in the outdoors and wildlife as
his hobby and traveled around the country to pursue that passion. The highlight
was a trip to Yellowstone National Park, Montana, where he video-taped six
grizzly bears in one week. He also took many backpacking trips to the Boundary
Waters on the Minnesota-Canada border where wildlife flourished.
He graduated from Central Michigan University with a bachelors degree in
teaching in 1989 with a Physical Education Major and Physics and Chemistry
minor. He was immediately hired by Deckerville High School and taught
chemistry, physics, life science, astronomy, physical education, and weights and
conditioning while also coaching football, basketball, and track & field for 11
years.
Ford’s love and passion for sports was only eclipsed by his love for the outdoors
and the wildlife that live there. His father Jac Ford and grandfather Charlie Ford
fueled this passion and it eventually blossomed into a side career as a freelance
outdoor writer. Prompted by Jim Hornak, his former professor at CMU, Ford
wrote his first article in 1997: a story on fly-fishing published by Woods-N-Water
News. He has since published over 40 articles on hunting, fishing, and
backpacking. Over the next decade he was also published in Bow and Arrow
Hunting Magazine, two books published by Deer & Deer Hunting, Michigan-OutOf-Doors Magazine, and was the “Field Notes” columnist for the Sandusky
Tribune for three years.
Ford’s favorite outdoor activity is bow hunting, and he enjoys videotaping wildlife
while sitting on the stand with his bow hanging in the tree next to him.
Ford has been married to wife Amy Ford for 11 years. The couple have a 9-year old daughter, Riley Jo, and a 7-year-old son, Clint.