It’s time for political debate leading up to the 2024 election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
But there’s something else to debate: What if high school sports were more common in the 1700s and 1800s?
What if we had seen a teenage Theodore Roosevelt at the border with William Howard Taft trying to stop him? Or Andrew Jackson cornering William Henry Harrison? (And trying to convince Jackson that guns are not allowed on the gridiron).
Those are dreams, but the reality is that 12 US presidents have played high school sports. One of the last 13 presidents who did not play high school sports is Bill Clinton (a huge sports fan, especially when it comes to the Arkansas Razorbacks).
Here are all the American presidents who played high school sports, starting with the most recent president and going back through the years.
Biden played football and baseball for the Archmere Academy Auks, but football was his better sport. He played outfield in baseball and was a wide receiver in football.
Trump was a three-sport athlete at New York Military Academy, playing one season of football and soccer, but his best sport was baseball, where he when he lined up and played first base.
Obama – then known as Barry Obama – won a state high school basketball championship with the Punahou Buff ‘N Blue in 1979. The latter went on to play at Occidental College in California in the years of the 80s.
Bush was a three-sport athlete at Phillips Academy, playing baseball, basketball and football and was known for his prowess in all three. Once at Yale, he discovered a new sport that suited his weakness: rugby.
No, Bill Clinton didn’t play high school sports, but George HW Bush did. He is a baseball legend at Phillips Academy, and went on to become an all-star first baseman at Yale. He also played football for Phillips Academy.
Reagan was an offensive star/star on the football team and played basketball in high school. He was also a good swimmer but there was no swim team in high school, although he swam and played football at Eureka College in Illinois.
Carter played basketball at Plains High School, which closed in 1997 and is now the site of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site visitor center and museum. He ran cross country at the US Naval Academy.
Ford played football, basketball and on the Grand Rapids South track team, but football was his forte. As good as Reagan was, Ford was much better. He went on to win two national championships at Michigan and captained the Wolverines as a senior center in 1934.
Nixon followed the same athletic schedule as Ford in high school – football, basketball and track – and like Ford, football was his favorite. But he was better at basketball, which he went on to play at Whittier College (he also excelled on the football team).
Johnson’s senior class consisted of only six students, and he graduated at age 15, but he reportedly played high school baseball. Co-op, or maybe everyone at Johnson City High School in 1924 played baseball? The school was renamed Lyndon Baines Johnson HS in 1963.
Kennedy played left tackle and played on the 1932 Choate Hall football team. He continued to play football and compete on the Harvard swim team, but back problems ended his athletic career.
Abilene High School had no organized sports, so Eisenhower and his friends formed the Abilene Athletic Association to compete with other area high schools. He played baseball and football, graduating in 1909 and going on to play quarterback at West Point, where he was injured trying to tackle Jim Thorpe.
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— Mike Swanson | swanson@scorebooklive.com | @sblivesports
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