Was that B in calculus going to be his downfall? He couldn\u2019t take physics because of COVID-19, and would that be acceptable to West Point?<\/p>\n
But when he received word that he had completed his six-year quest, his fellow students taking the anatomy exam probably noticed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called my dad. I was shaking, my heart was racing, I was sweating. I couldn\u2019t talk,\u201d Ford said. \u201cIt was just this realization that so many late nights and early mornings, and sacrificing time \u2013 time to hang out with other people or to make significant relationships so that I could get to West Point \u2013 paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jim Pitts, Ford\u2019s father, said his son\u2019s fascination with the military began when he was young and was fueled during a family trip to Oklahoma to visit his brother, who retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Army.<\/p>\n
Ford\u2019s uncle had memorabilia from James Richard Pitts II, Ford\u2019s grandfather and a 1951 West Point graduate.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother had my dad\u2019s diploma. He had a scrapbook from West Point. He had lots of pictures,\u201d Jim Pitts said. \u201cHe had some of the clothing from the academy. When Ford was first exposed to this, he was in middle school. All of a sudden, he came home, and it just lit a fire. Since then, he\u2019s just been driven.\u201d<\/p>\n
Academics, sports, just about everything Ford focused on, were a springboard to maximize his chances of getting a West Point appointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe put together a white board, listing all his goals to get to West Point. That\u2019s the kind of kid he is,\u201d Jim Pitts said.<\/p>\n
Several years ago, Ford began researching family history.<\/p>\n
He discovered his grandfather had two older brothers, twins, who also graduated from West Point, Class of 1943.<\/p>\n
One of the Pitts twins, Lt. Gen. William Pitts, flew a B-29 bomber out of Saipan, the Northern Mariana island where Ford was born.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had never known that I was born on the very island where my great uncle was doing his military service,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n
His unusual middle name, Kavu, means \u201cseize the opportunity\u201d in Palauan, a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in the Micronesian islands of the Western Pacific.<\/p>\n
As a child, he had a toy B-29. It was named the \u201cDinamite.\u201d In ninth grade, he discovered the B-29 his great-uncle flew was also named \u201cDinamite.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018This has to be a sign from a higher being,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Jim Pitts served in the 1980s, and although the family has a long military tradition, a military career was not pushed on Ford.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t something that I ever told him, you know, you need to do this. We never pressured him to do anything, really,\u201d Jim Pitts said. \u201cBut we lived overseas. He was born on an island that was a battleground, and he knew all this stuff. And really what happened was, he was very intense, always. He wasn\u2019t quiet or withdrawn, but he was, he was very intense. He was very driven on just about everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford was open about West Point\u2019s importance to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were people at school who didn\u2019t know my name, but they knew where I wanted to go to college,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Durango High quarterback Jordan Woolverton, who signed with the University of Colorado, said, \u201cWe\u2019ve been playing with him for a very long time in football now, and all I can remember is him coming in every day and outworking everyone on the field, no matter what it took. He was always a great leader and held everyone accountable to what our goals were as a team and individually.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford, a defensive end\/linebacker, was named to the first team of Colorado High School Activities Association\u2019s all-state squad.<\/p>\n With Ford helping lead the DHS defense, the Demons went 8-0 and beat Roosevelt High School for the Class 3A state championship, the school\u2019s first state football title since 1954.<\/p>\n \u201cFord has been one of the best leaders to come through the Durango football program,\u201d head coach David Vogt said. \u201cHe is the only junior to ever be voted as a team captain and was again as a senior. His work ethic was always there, and he brought his fellow teammates up to his level. He put West Point as a goal, and his hard work has paid off. I couldn\u2019t be prouder of a player.\u201d<\/p>\n At West Point, Ford plans to join the rugby team.<\/p>\n Further research on ancestry.com showed some of Ford\u2019s family members have graduated from West Point since the 19th century. His family roots trace to Mississippi and Missouri, and some ancestors fought for the Confederacy.<\/p>\n Growing up in Saipan, Ford swam among wreckage of downed American and Japanese planes from World War II. The wrecks were among his first memories associated with the military.<\/p>\n First grade came in a public school in Saipan. Second grade was in South Carolina, where most of his classmates were Black students. In third grade, he was home-schooled back in Saipan by his mother, Colleen.<\/p>\n He describes himself as \u201can anxious kid.\u201d He remembers calling his mom every day to remind her to pick him up after school.<\/p>\n \u201cI was worried she was going to forget to pick me up, which was dumb, but I worried: How would I get home?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He stuck out in Saipan, the only student with hair bleached blond from the tropical sun.<\/p>\n \u201cHow do you make your eyes green?\u201d they\u2019d ask.<\/p>\n One topic for the essay to enter West Point asked how a future Army officer could work with soldiers from diverse backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities.<\/p>\n \u201cI said, I can do that, because it\u2019s what I\u2019ve been doing my entire life \u2013 getting along with people who are not like me, who don\u2019t look like me or think like me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ultimately, what Ford wants to do is serve his country, and he said West Point was the best preparation for that.<\/p>\n Setting goals to keep himself motivated \u201cis something I\u2019m pretty good at,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The next goal: graduation.<\/p>\n He plans to major in international affairs and minor in a foreign language. He wants a roommate who is strong in math, his weak subject.<\/p>\n After graduation, he would like to serve in the infantry, and he\u2019s thinking of applying to the Green Berets, soldiers whom he sees not only as warriors but as diplomats.<\/p>\n An actuary\u2019s chart of the lifespan of a West Point grad might not be as long as other college graduates, but that something Ford accepts:<\/p>\n \u201cIf we were at war when I graduate, I\u2019d be in the normal Army, at risk of dying. But I would be doing what I love,\u201d he said. \u201cI would have died without regrets because I would be in the place I want, doing what I want, serving my country.\u201d<\/p>\n