Tod Rockwell

Ferdinand Almon "Tod" Rockwell (1900 – March 22, 1952) was an American college football player and coach. He attended the University of Michigan, where he played quarterback for the Wolverines football team in 1923 and 1924, helping the 1923 team win a national championship. Rockwell served as the head football coach at Salem College—now known as Salem University—in 1925, the University of North Dakota from 1926 to 1927, and Louisiana Polytechnic Institute—now known as Louisiana Tech University from 1928 to 1929.

Early years Rockwell was born in Chicago, the son of a Methodist minister.

University of Michigan Rockwell enrolled at the University of Michigan and played on the freshman football team in 1920. He did not play football in 1921 or 1922. Years later, Harry Kipke wrote about the play and described Rockwell's "perfect acrobatic somersault" as he appeared to be down but maintained his balance and ran for the winning touchdown.

The following week, Michigan faced Minnesota for the Western Conference championship, and Rockwell caught a pass from Michigan's fullback on his fingertips, juggled the ball, and ran 31 yards for a touchdown that led Michigan to a tie with Illinois for the conference championship.

After the 1923 season, another sport writer said of Rockwell: "Through the years Michigan has turned out a bunch of brilliant quarterbacks, 'Boss' Weeks, 'Shorty' McMillan, Tommy Hughitt and Uteritz but Rockwell gives promise of equaling the remarkable performance of all these former celebrities." The 1923 team finished the season with a perfect 8–0 record and has been recognized by Billingsley as the national champion of 1923.

In 1924, Rockwell started seven games at quarterback and one at halfback in leading the Wolverines to a 6–2 record, including wins over Michigan State (7–0), Wisconsin (21–0), Minnesota (13–0), Northwestern (27–0) and Ohio State (16–6). However, the Wolverines could not stop the Illinois team led by Red Grange, giving up 39 points to Michigan's 14.

Rockwell received his degree from the University of Michigan as part of the first class to graduate from Michigan's new school of physical education and coaching. In April 1926, he was hired as the new head football coach for the University of North Dakota. He held that position at North Dakota during the 1926 and 1927 season, compiling a record of 8–8. His third position was as head football coach at Louisiana Tech, where he had a record of 5–11–3 from 1928 to 1929.

Later years In 1930, Rockwell became a sports writer for the Detroit Free Press. He spent 10 years at the Free Press, writing about Michigan football, high school sports, yachting and Golden Gloves boxing.

Rockwell left the Free Press in 1940 to join the United States Navy construction forces, known as the Seabees. Rockwell remained in the Navy throughout World War II. After the war, he managed "Sports Final", a sports publication in Detroit. He later accepted a civilian public relations position for the United States Air Force. He also worked for a short time for the Michigan Department of Health.

Head coaching record