Judith Ford

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Judith Anne Ford, a native of Belvidere, Illinois, was crowned Miss America in 1969. Judith Ford, later known as Judi Nash, had been Miss Illinois 1968 when she competed for the Miss America title. Ford was a world-class trampolinist at the time of the pageant. Prior her winning the state title, she had graduated from Belvidere High School and was Miss Boone County.

According to her biographic information, Nash's trampoline routine helped her win the title. Nash spent her freshman year at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then called the University of Southwestern Louisiana, to train under the expertise of trampoline coach Jeff Hennessy.

After her freshman year, she won the Miss America crown and took a leave from college for a year. Following her year off, she transferred to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she received her bachelor's degree in physical education. She later in life earned a master's degree in physical education from Western Illinois University.

She served on the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports for eight years, appointed by Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. She was an elementary physical education teacher and is now retired, but still coaches golf and basketball. She is married to James Nash, an attorney in Geneseo, Illinois.