Dr. Kenneth B. Ford, Jr. grew up in Houston before heading to the University of Texas at Austin to pursue higher education. As a member of the Fiji fraternity, Ken recorded 6 intramural championships, including Best All-Around Athlete in the 1963-64 year. He graduated from UT in 1965 and went on to medical school at UTMB in Galveston, graduating in 1969. After serving as Flight Surgeon in the U.S. Air Force for two years, Ken then went into private practice as an Orthopedic Surgeon in Houston for 31 years. In 1995, Ken and his good friend Tommy Nelms, another former Fiji intramural participant, started filming The Reel Guys for ESPN. The show ran for eight years, and as Ford says, "We lasted one year and $500 million dollars short of Jerry Seinfeld." Currently Ken serves the State of Texas as Assistant Medical Advisor regulating unnecessary medical care.

Ken and wife Jaunea have been married since 1970 and currently reside in Houston. They have 4 wonderful children who are all graduates of UT Austin. Bo is currently involved in private investment management in Houston where he works for Barclays Group, one of the largest financial services companies in the world. Casey went to work straight out of college for commercial real estate company CB Richard Ellis in San Diego, and continues to work for them today in Austin. He is married to Abby and they have a perpetually happy son named Brady. Aimee lives in Phoenix with her husband, Chris, and their beautiful, funny, 4-year old daughter, Barlow. Katie lives in Houston with her husband, Lester, and a very happy 2-year old old boy named Les. Katie and Lester welcomed their second child, Ford, on February 10, 2009.

Ken's father, Kenny Ford, earned his bachelor's degree in petroleum engineering in 1940 from UT where he was a proud member of the Texas Cowboys and Kappa Sigma Fraternity. He was honored as a "Distinguished Graduate" from the College of Engineering. Nothing topped his passion for sports more than the Texas Longhorns. Years before Mack Brown made it "cool" to wear burnt orange, Kenny would always be decked out in his unusual version of UT colors and was well known for his orange pants. Kenny was the first generation of Fords to earn a spot on the Intramural Wall of Fame. He was later followed by Ken and Casey, respectively, and thus the Ford family is one of the very few in the storied history of the intramural program to have 3 generations appear on the Wall.

In 2008, Dr. Ford joined the RecSports Leadership Team and has been working tirelessly to promote the benefits of Recreational Sports programs and is helping raise funds to reward the many outstanding student employees who are working hard to pay their way through school.

Scholarship Recipients

Funds distributed from the endowment will enable the division to provide scholarships annually. Occurring each spring semester, the selection process is open to full-time undergraduate students who have reached junior or senior status, with a 2.5 minimum GPA and who have been employed by Recreational Sports during one or more academic years. Although not a specific requirement for selection, special consideration shall be given to those applicants who are considering a future career in any field related to medicine and health care. The Ford Scholarship selection committee seeks candidates who:

• Demonstrate commitment to divisional values, goals and ideals
• Provide beneficial, outstanding leadership to those around them
• Go above and beyond their responsibilities on a regular basis
• Represent the Division of Recreational Sports in a positive and favorable manner at all times

The recipient of the 20111 Ford Family Endowed Scholarship is Alec Herzog. Alec is a senior majoring in biology with plans to attend dental school and eventually obtain a doctorate in dental surgery. Originally from Katy, TX, Alec works as an outdoor equipment manager and has participated in Texas 4000 for Cancer, Alpha Phi Sigma pre-medical Honor Society and Longhorn EMS. He says that his job with RecSports has taught him things that he would never learn in a classroom and he believes that will be invaluable in furthering his education and career.

Previous winners:
2010 - Courtney Krenek
2009 - Melissa Murphy

It is the Ford family's desire to increase the endowment principal in order to recognize additional student leaders. In order to achieve this goal, they hope to enlist the support of other former Recreational Sports student employees and participants.

Your 100% tax-deductible contribution to the endowment is welcomed and planned giving opportunities are available. If your employer offers a charitable matching gift program, you can increase the size of your gift. Checks should be made payable to The University of Texas at Austin and mailed to:

Division of Recreational Sports
Attn: Development Coordinator
1 University Station D7500
Austin, Texas 78712-0395

Online contributions can be made through UT Online Giving.