As a young boy, Luke Ford wanted to be just like his father. He and his older brother Noah had dreams of serving in the military, something all the Ford men have done since the foundation of America was built.
Luke's dad – Tim Ford – had that same dream after seeing his father serve for decades and be deployed during the Vietnam War. Tim lived out that dream for over 18 years in the Army as a pilot. While Tim was first a reserves Blackhawk test pilot working at a hospital in St. Louis, he was deployed after 9/11 and was flying AH-64D Apache helicopters by Sept. 18, 2001.
Tim's time in the Army didn't end there as he flew with the Ghost Riders 2nd of the 101st Airborne Division and Iraq. But after being injured during service in Iraq during Iraqi freedom, Tim medically retired and returned home to his wife Lisa and two growing boys in Luke and Noah.
That's why the upcoming Illinois football game against Rutgers means a little more to the Ford family. The team will celebrate Dads Day and Military Appreciation Day on Saturday, giving Luke the perfect day to honor his father, and now Noah who is serving in the Navy.
"It just means so much more," Luke said. "Having my father go serve and he was injured in combat in Iraq, it just means something else for him to come back alive, unlike a lot of other people during those wars. And then have my brother active duty now and him serving, I'm just filled with emotions. I'm so thankful to have those service members and all the military just out there protecting us and letting us play this great game of football."
While Noah continued on with those dreams to be like Tim, Luke was able to take a different avenue. After barely playing football during his childhood, Luke joined the Carterville High School team his freshman year and quickly became one of the state's top tight end prospects.
But Luke was close to not playing football at all in high school and following in the footsteps of the Ford men before him. When Luke and Noah were young, Lisa told Tim she didn't want the boys playing football. That wish wasn't an issue until Nick Hill, the current head coach at Southern Illinois University, moved in next door.
Hill told Lisa both her boys would be playing football for him when they got to college, but Lisa quickly shut down that idea. But in the summer before Luke's freshman year of high school, he begged his parents for a pair of cleats so he could join the football team. After Lisa kept saying no, her and Tim got a call from the Carterville football coach who told them he would buy Luke his first pair of cleats if it meant getting him on the team.
Four years later, Luke became one of top three tight end recruits in the nation and was later selected to the 2018 U.S. Army All-America Bowl, one of the Ford family's proudest moments. And even though Luke didn't take the military path, his family's history has been able to help him on the football field.
"I know in my hardest days, there's always someone out there doing something harder," Luke said. "Whether it be in the military when you're deployed, you'd stay up, you'd stay awake. You got to be able to make commands, make calls on the battlefield to keep people alive, no matter how tired you are, running off no sleep, like it's life or death out there. To where here I'm tired, I'm sore, I'm hurt, but it's not life or death out here. And so that puts it into perspective. So, I feel like high pressure situations, I perform really well because I know I have it in my blood just from every one of my family members being able to do that."
Luke's perspective on life and the game of football has mostly been built by his family's time in the military. To honor his brother, who lived out his childhood dreams and is now training to be a fighter pilot, and his father on Saturday is a blessing for Luke.
While Tim is humbled to be one of the many honored on Saturday, he feels it's not just people like him who should be celebrated.
When Tim was deployed, Lisa was back at home taking care of Luke and Noah alone while also working a full-time job to support her family. To Tim, she was the true hero of the family.
"I think the military spouses sometimes don't get as much appreciation as they should because they live it right along with us," Tim said. "Their sacrifice is enormous. And when I went to Iraq, Lisa was left with a five- and three-year-old and she's working full time trying to take care of the two kids and I'm in Iraq. I constantly told her I said, 'me flying combat missions, that's not near as hard as you taking care of two kids and working a full-time job and one getting pneumonia in the hospital trying to find people to take care of them.'"
Lisa and Tim will both be in attendance on Saturday as they get to embrace both celebrations happening on that day. Luke is also looking forward to seeing his parents and getting the chance to honor his family.
Tim, who is now a veteran working in the medical field, is excited to not only watch Luke play and spend time with his soon, but to see future and current military members be honored for their services.
"It's very amazing that the Illini football team and the University show appreciation for our military," Tim said. "And I think with the University of Illinois having such large ROTC programs, it speaks a lot to the commitment to honor integrity and sacrifice that our country needs to stay free and, and the young men and women who raise their hand every day on that they may have to be required to give all. Not so much in my world, but the fact that these young kids, they're the true heroes. When they get done with school, they may wind up seeing another team that they're playing whether it's Navy, Air Force, Army in combat and and that team plays for keeps, there's no second place there. So, it means an enormous amount that the Illini, Bret Bielema and the football team are doing that military appreciation. It's just wonderful."
