IN: Leonard Guy Ford Jr. (February 18, 1926 - March 14, 1972) was an American football player from 1944 to 1958. He played college football for the University of Michigan and professional football for the Los Angeles Dons, Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1976 and the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1996. Ford was an all-city athlete at his high school in Washington, D.C., and attended Morgan State University after graduating in 1944.

By 1947, Ford had grown to 215 pounds, 25 pounds heavier than he had weighed in 1945. Led by All-American halfbacks Bob Chappuis and Bump Elliott, the undefeated 1947 Michigan team has been selected as the best team in the history of Michigan football. Nicknamed the "Mad Magicians", the Michigan squad finished with a 10-0 record, capped by a 49-0 victory in the Rose Bowl over USC on New Year's Day. Ford started only one game in 1947, as Bob Mann was the starting left end in eight of Michigan's 10 games. Even with reduced playing time, Ford caught a 35-yard touchdown pass in the first game of the season and had two receptions for 82 yards in the 55-0 win over Michigan State. He scored again in a game against Pitt. Ford's defensive performance was credited with shutting down Ohio State in the final game of the 1947 season. After the Wolverines' 21-0 victory over the Buckeyes, The Michigan Daily wrote:  "For the defense it was big Len Ford, who sparked a forward wall that never let the Bucks threaten. His end was practically impregnable. He smashed Ohio interference time and again, he continually harassed Dick Slager and Pandel Savic, the Ohio passers, and he made life miserable for Pete Perini, blocking one punt and rushing the Buckeye punter on nearly all of his kicks."  Michigan finished first in the AP Poll and won the 1947 college football national championship, sharing the honor with Notre Dame, which had been first in the polls before the Rose Bowl. After the 1947 season, the Associated Press (AP) selected Ford as a third-team All-American end and named teammate Bob Mann as a second-team All-American end. The AP also named Ford a second-team all-Big Nine Conference end. In the summer of 1948, he accepted an invitation to play for the college team in the College All-Star Game, a now-defunct annual matchup between the champion of the professional National Football League (NFL) and a selection of the country's best college players.
QUESTION: Why did he only start in one game?
IN: O'Neill was born in a hotel, the Barrett House, at Broadway and 43rd Street, on what was then Longacre Square (now Times Square). A commemorative plaque was first dedicated there in 1957. The site is now occupied by 1500 Broadway, which houses offices, retail, and ABC Studios. He was the son of Irish immigrant actor James O'Neill and Mary Ellen Quinlan, who was also of Irish descent.

After suffering from multiple health problems (including depression and alcoholism) over many years, O'Neill ultimately faced a severe Parkinsons-like tremor in his hands which made it impossible for him to write during the last 10 years of his life; he had tried using dictation but found himself unable to compose in that way. While at Tao House, O'Neill had intended to write a cycle of 11 plays chronicling an American family since the 1800s. Only two of these, A Touch of the Poet and More Stately Mansions, were ever completed. As his health worsened, O'Neill lost inspiration for the project and wrote three largely autobiographical plays, The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey into Night, and A Moon for the Misbegotten. He managed to complete Moon for the Misbegotten in 1943, just before leaving Tao House and losing his ability to write. Drafts of many other uncompleted plays were destroyed by Carlotta at Eugene's request.  O'Neill died in Room 401 of the Sheraton Hotel (now Boston University's Shelton Hall) on Bay State Road in Boston, on November 27, 1953, at the age of 65. As he was dying, he whispered his last words: "I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room and died in a hotel room." Dr. Harry Kozol, the lead prosecuting expert of the Patty Hearst trial, treated O'Neill during these last years of illness. He also was present for O'Neill's death and announced the fact to the public.  O'Neill is interred in the Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood.  In 1956 Carlotta arranged for his autobiographical play Long Day's Journey into Night to be published, although his written instructions had stipulated that it not be made public until 25 years after his death. It was produced on stage to tremendous critical acclaim and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1957. This last play is widely considered to be his finest. Other posthumously-published works include A Touch of the Poet (1958) and More Stately Mansions (1967).  The United States Postal Service honored O'Neill with a Prominent Americans series (1965-1978) $1 postage stamp.
QUESTION: What year did he die?
IN: Elaine May (born April 21, 1932) is an American screenwriter, film director, actress, and comedienne. She made her initial impact in the 1950s from her improvisational comedy routines with Mike Nichols, performing as Nichols and May. After her duo with Nichols ended, May subsequently developed a career as a director and screenwriter. Her screenwriting has been twice nominated for the Academy Award, for Heaven Can Wait (1978) and the Nichols-directed Primary Colors (1998).

Audiences were still discovering them in 1961, four years after they arrived. However, at the height of their fame, they decided to discontinue their act that year and took their careers in different directions: Nichols became a leading film director; May became primarily a screenwriter and playwright, with some acting and directing. Among the reasons they decided to call it quits was that keeping their act fresh was becoming more difficult. Nichols explains:  Several things happened. One was that I, more than Elaine, became more and more afraid of our improvisational material. She was always brave. We never wrote a skit, we just sort of outlined it: I'll try to make you, or we'll fight--whatever it was. We found ourselves doing the same material over and over, especially in our Broadway show. This took a great toll on Elaine.  Nichols said that for him personally the breakup was "cataclysmic", and he went into a state of depression: "I didn't know what I was or who I was." It was not until 1996, thirty-five years later, that they would work together again as a team, when she wrote the screenplay and he directed The Birdcage. It "was like coming home, like getting a piece of yourself back that you thought you'd lost," he said. He adds that May had been very important to him from the moment he first saw her, adding that for her "improv was innate," and few people have that gift.  Director Arthur Penn said of their sudden breakup, "They set the standard and then they had to move on." To New York talk show host Dick Cavett, "They were one of the comic meteors in the sky."  They reunited for benefits for George McGovern for President in 1972.
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