Paul G. Goebel

Paul G. Goebel

Paul Gordon Goebel (May 28, 1901 – January 26, 1988) was an American football end who played for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1920 to 1922. He was an All-American in 1921 and was the team's captain in 1922. He played professional football from 1923 to 1926 with the Columbus Tigers, Chicago Bears, and New York Yankees. He was named to the NFL All-Pro team in 1923 and 1924.

After his football career ended, he operated a sporting good store in Grand Rapids. He officiated football games for the Big Ten Conference for 16 years and also served in the U.S. Navy on an aircraft carrier in World War II. He was active in Republican Party politics in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was one of the organizers of a reform movement to oust the city's political boss, Frank McKay. As an anti-McKay reform candidate, Goebel was three times elected mayor of Grand Rapids in the 1950s. He was later elected to the University of Michigan Board of Regents, where he served from 1962 to 1970.

Goebel also played an important role in the career of U.S. President Gerald R. Ford. Goebel was friends with Ford's mother and stepfather and recommended Ford to head football coach Harry Kipke at the University of Michigan. When Ford returned from World War II, Goebel urged him to run for U.S. Congress and was part of the original Ford-for-Congress committee. Goebel was later the chairman of a committee formed in 1960 to name Ford as the Republican Party's Vice Presidential candidate on the ticket with Richard Nixon.