databasefootball death_date death_place birth_place teams awards article_title position birth_date image college name imagewidth
goebepau01 26 january 1988 grand rapids , michigan grand rapids , michigan columbus , 1926 tigers , 1923 -- 1925 new york yankees all-american , 1922 paul g. goebel
 end may 28 , 1901 paul goebel.jpg university of michigan paul g. goebel 250px
paul g. goebel

paul gordon goebel -lrb- may 28 , 1901 -- january 26 , 1988 -rrb- was an american football end who played for the university of michigan wolverines from 1920 to 1922 .
he was an all-american in 1921 and was the team 's captain in 1922 .
he played professional football from 1923 to 1926 with the columbus tigers , chicago bears , and new york yankees .
he was named to the nfl all-pro team in 1923 and 1924 .
after his football career ended , he operated a sporting good store in grand rapids .
he officiated football games for the big ten conference for 16 years and also served in the u.s. navy on an aircraft carrier in world war ii .
he was active in republican party politics in grand rapids , michigan , and was one of the organizers of a reform movement to oust the city 's political boss , frank mckay .
as an anti-mckay reform candidate , goebel was three times elected mayor of grand rapids in the 1950s .
he was later elected to the university of michigan board of regents , where he served from 1962 to 1970 .
goebel also played an important role in the career of u.s. president gerald r. ford .
goebel was friends with ford 's mother and stepfather and recommended ford to head football coach harry kipke at the university of michigan .
when ford returned from world war ii , goebel urged him to run for u.s. congress and was part of the original ford-for-congress committee .
goebel was later the chairman of a committee formed in 1960 to name ford as the republican party 's vice presidential candidate on the ticket with richard nixon .
