The legacy of Clemson’s 1981 national championship is no longer just about football. Decades after coach Danny Ford led the Tigers to glory, his son is now tackling a new field: South Carolina politics.

Clemson has won three total national championships in its history, and two of them came under Dabo Swinney. That natty standard, in truth, started under former legendary head coach Ford in 1981, and he was inducted into the program’s Hall of Fame in 2017. But after hanging up his coaching boots, he has become a renowned farmer, and his son follows in his footsteps as a farmer. Now, in a moment of pride, this son is running for an in-state office in South Carolina.

Danny Ford’s son, Danny Lee Ford II, announced his bid for agriculture commissioner on Monday at the Upstate Livestock Exchange in Anderson County. Ford, with his bid, aspires to offer more support to struggling in-state farmers and connect the agriculture industry directly to the consumers.

“Whenever farmers are having trouble, it makes a difference when they know that people are behind them,” Ford said.

Apart from Ford II, President Trump’s endorsee, Cody Simpson, is also running, and he has even got the backing of Gov. Henry McMahster’s after announcing his candidacy last week. Among the Republican camp, Jeremy Cannon has announced his candidacy, and so far, no Democratic candidates have announced.

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The winning candidate will handle the state’s Department of Agriculture and will serve a four-year term. The winner will succeed retiring agriculture commissioner, Hugh Weathers, who has been in the office since 2004.

The responsibilities of the designation include promoting agribusiness, inspecting restaurants and cafeterias, and overseeing over 250 employees. After the younger Ford announced his campaign, Ford II’s father put complete faith in his son for the job.

The Elder Ford said that he is “all in” on his son’s bid for agricultural commissioner.

“I’ll back him 110% and hopefully he’ll get a chance to do a good job,” the elder Ford remarked.

The 77-year old also highlighted farmers’ “struggle like the devil” and wading through unpredictable weather and an uncertain regulatory landscape, “a bigger gamble than going to Las Vegas.”

According to Ford, farmers currently need widespread public support and urged people to back his son in achieving the said goals.

“New ideas are needed, like anything. You don’t need the same people forever, because you get stagnant,” Ford explained.

Ford came to Clemson in 1977, becoming the team’s O-line coach. He became Clemson’s head coach in 1978 and remained till 1989, during which the Tigers’ momentum took off.

Clemson’s former head coach, Danny Ford, opens up on transitioning to farming

During his Clemson tenure, Ford accumulated a 96-29-4 record, which still ranks among the best in the ACC. When Clemson won the national championship, Ford became the youngest coach to win it at just 33. Thereafter, he went on to win five ACC titles and never compiled a losing season. Finishing up his coaching career in 1997 at Arkansas, Danny returned to his 174-acre family farm near Clemson and has lived a low-profile and rural life ever since.

“After I left Arkansas and came back to the farm, I’ve done a little bit of everything. I was kind of in the middle of an age crisis — too old to start all over, not old enough to quit,” Ford recalled.

“I’ve always liked cattle. I love the spring and the fall, the new calves being born and jumping around. I really enjoy the new life and new beginning—and hate the ending of it.”

The media describe Ford as the “coach the world forgot,” but he still occasionally attends Clemson tailgates with his family and former Clemson players. Despite leaving the football world for good, the farming community reveres him, and he has earned a name for himself in that. State officials selected Danny as one of 20 farmers from across South Carolina for the Industrial Hemp Pilot Program.

The permit allowed Ford to grow Industrial hemp on up to 20 acres of his land, and now his son, Danny Lee Ford II, has followed in his footsteps.

Lee Ford has worked alongside his father in hemp farming, raising cattle, and crop farming. He is a fierce critic of “regulatory whipsaws” that trouble small farmers. Ford’s campaign’s goal in the race is to provide a new outlook inspired by the values his father taught, and to connect with the farmers at the grassroots level.