Long before he paid official visits to Kansas, Kansas University and Baker University in the 1970s and 1990s, the late president Gerald Ford had established a firm and lasting connection to the state and one of its most colorful personalities – Wayne Replogle.

The alliance was forged in 1936 when Ford, after stardom as a Michigan University football star, interned as a ranger in Yellowstone National Park, where Replogle was developing into one of the park’s most notable authorities on history, flora and fauna. Replogle, a 1925 football all-star at College of Emporia, was not to join the KU football staff until 1940. By then he and Ford had established a linkage that was regularly renewed with letter exchanges.

The versatile Replogle, also an artist, sculptor, writer and football movie expert, summered in Yellowstone for more than 40 years and became a legend in the park service. When he died, appropriately on July 4, 1977, while serving in the park he loved, the Yellowstone people flew their flags at half-staff to honor him. The year earlier, there had been a face-to-face reunion with Gerald Ford, then the president, who went to the park to propose a $1.5 billion, 10-year plan to double the nation’s park system.

Ford made a special point of contacting Replogle for a luncheon session at the Artist Point observation area, and they delighted in reminiscing. In 1936, the more youthful Replogle was active in all Yellowstone operations, including rescues of tourists and hikers in tight spots. Ford was one of his key aides.

“I could be dangling precariously above the Yellowstone River trying to get somebody out of trouble, and my life would literally be in the hands of this young ‘buck ranger’ from Michigan,” Replogle told the Associated Press in 1976. “He was the most resourceful, dependable and courageous young fellow we ever had. There never was an assignment he would not take, especially if it was dangerous. He was always the first to volunteer for a hazardous job. I never worked with anyone who inspired more confidence in me, whatever the situation. It was clear then that he would be a success in whatever field he entered.”

Replogle hadn’t seen then-president Ford for 40 years when they had their 1976 get-together, but they had kept in touch via letters. Ford often requested advice from Replogle, whose expertise as a naturalist and park expert was vast and inventive.

“He was very, very fearless, a wonderful friend and companion and you could always depend on him to do the right thing,” Replogle told a Journal-World staff member, describing Ford. “Because he was an athlete of such stature, we summoned him far and above the call of normal duty, and he always delivered. Just like he’s been doing as president, you could always count on his trying to do the right thing and solve a problem in the best way and to help people in any way possible.”

While Gerald Ford helped dedicate the current KU law school building, made other visits to the state and had a daughter, Susan, who briefly attended KU, his first and most lasting ties to Kansas were through Wayne Replogle, the colorful football coach who accomplished so many other things in his 73 years.

The onetime coach’s assessment of the young intern from Michigan has been verified many times during recent memorial services to honor Ford. Time and again, Replogle’s early evaluation of the man has been recalled by eulogists: “He was very, very fearless : and you could always depend on him to do the right thing. : to help people in any way possible.”