Background
He was born in Brooklyn, the son of Gordon Lester Ford and Emily Fowler Ford (a granddaughter of Noah Webster, poet, and lifelong friend of Emily Dickinson).
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Malcolm Ford
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lieutenant consisted of ten events, three of which are different from those which are run today). He also excelled in individual events. Ford"s father and the Ford family strongly opposed his participation in athletics and he was disinherited because of his refusal to give up competition.
He also twice endured scandals for competing as a professional and was banned from amateur competition.
The couple divorced in 1898 and Ford was granted custody of the child. At other times he worked as a journalist (his articles on track and field events were published in Outing magazine).
He launched his own publications twice, but both were failures. An inquest ruled "temporary insanity".
Achievements
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In his heyday during the 1880s, he was three times the American National Champion as "All Around Athlete", a competition which was the equivalent of today"s decathlon. In 1885 and 1886 he was the winner at the National Championships of the long jump and 100 and 200 yard dash, a "triple" which was not accomplished again until Carl Lewis did it in 1983.
