The 1958 Green Bay team won just one game in Ford's lone season there. Ford suffered multiple broken fingers before the last game of the 1958 season, and, because he was unable to play, the Packers refused to pay Ford the final $916.66 due on his contract. In 1961, Ford sued the Packers in Wayne County Circuit Court in Detroit to collect the $916.66 plus $10,000 for alleged damage to his reputation caused by the Packers' releasing him. Career statistics and legacy Ford recovered 20 fumbles in his career, an NFL record at the time he retired as a player. He was successful in part because of his combination of quickness and size. Few players of his era who were as tall and big as he was could move as fast; only Larry Brink of the Rams was close to him in proportions. In 1969, Ford placed second in voting for the greatest defense end in NFL history. He was edged out by Gino Marchetti. He and Marchetti were selected as the defensive ends on the National Football League 1950s All-Decade Team. In 1976, Ford was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was selected for induction by the 27-man media board that had responsibility for selections at that time. He was also inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1996. Family and later years In 1951, Ford married Geraldine Bledsoe Ford (1926–2003), who was a lawyer in the 1950s, and in the mid-1960s became the first African-American woman to serve as a judge in Michigan. They had two daughters, Anita and Deborah, and divorced in 1959. While playing in the NFL, Ford worked during the off-season in a Detroit real estate office. He developed a reputation for being "cagey with the dollar" and told Jet magazine in 1955: "In what other sport can a boy just graduated from college make $5,000 in his first six months, then have a half-year left to make more money?" After retiring from football, Ford attended the Detroit College of Law for a year-and-a-half, but never received a law degree. From 1963 until his death, Ford worked as the assistant director at Considine Recreation Center, the largest recreation center in Detroit. At the time of his death 16 months later, he was described in obituaries as the assistant recreation director for the City of Detroit. Sports writer