Cole Ford (born December 31, 1972) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He is the son of

AlphaGraphics AlphaGraphics is a franchised chain of more than 270 independently owned and operated marketing service providers with full-service print shops. AlphaGraphics business centers are franchised by AlphaGraphics, Inc., part of the MBE Worldwide ...

founder

Rodger Ford Rodger Ford is the managing partner at Anthem Equity Group. He has also managed two medical device companies. Ford founded AlphaGraphics, a printshop business, in 1970. In 1979, the company began franchising its operations and, during the 1980s ...

High school career

Ford attended

Sabino High School Sabino High is a public secondary education school located in Tucson, Arizona. Located on the northeast side of the city, it is a part of the Tucson Unified School District. The principal is Kevin Amidan. History The school was established in 1 ...

in Tucson, where he played for the Sabercats

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team.

College career

Ford played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

Professional career

He was drafted in the seventh round (247th pick overall) of the

1995 NFL Draft The 1995 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1995 at the Paramount Th ...

by the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

. Ford played between

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

and

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

for the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

. Those first 2 seasons were successful, but his performance declined in 1997 and he was cut after that season. He played one game with the Buffalo Bills the following year before disappearing from professional football.

Legal troubles

He moved to Las Vegas in 2004 to pursue a lawsuit against the Mirage casino, demanding $5 million in damages for what he perceived as exploitation of athletes from profiting off sports betting. The lawsuit was dismissed. On September 21, 2004 police said that he fired a gun toward the house of entertainers

Siegfried & Roy Siegfried & Roy were a duo of German-American magicians and entertainers, best known for their appearances with white lions and white tigers. It was composed of Siegfried Fischbacher (June 13, 1939 – January 13, 2021) and Roy Horn (born Uwe L ...

. Ford was arrested and charged with three counts of felony firearms charges. At a January 2005 hearing, judge Jackie Glass ruled that Ford was incompetent to stand trial and ordered him sent to a state mental health facility to be evaluated. Ford argued that he was competent and wanted to plead guilty. According to a psychiatrist's evaluation after the shooting, Ford stated that he did not intend to harm the performers, but wanted to "warn the world of the illusionists' unhealthy danger to them and to animals".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Cole 1972 births Living people American football placekickers Oakland Raiders players Players of American football from Tucson, Arizona USC Trojans football players Buffalo Bills players