Cody Ford of Pineville is set to be the Grand Marshal for Sunday’s Mardi Gras parade in Alexandria, and the honor is a nod to his widespread favorable recognition in our community.
He’s a 6-foot-3, 345-pound offensive lineman for the Cincinnati Bengals who played for Pineville High School and the Oklahoma Sooners. For five years he has been hosting an annual youth football camp in the area, and PHS recently retired his No. 74 jersey. He is the highest NFL Draft choice ever from this area, having been picked in the second round (38th overall) by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2019.
When it comes to being recognized favorably in the community, Cody is quick to salute his late grandfather, Eddie Rabalais, who died in 2015 at age 67 when Cody was a redshirt freshman at Oklahoma. Rabalais, who was a pharmacist for 45 years, a member of the Avoyelles Parish School Board for 18 years, and arguably the most beloved member of a local Catholic men’s retreat community at his death, was Cody’s “Papa.”
But he was more than that.
“He was my best friend,” said Cody, 29, last week from his home in Dallas. “He taught me a lot about life and even about football.”
Cody still often signs his social media posts with the hashtag #RIPPAPA to honor Rabalais, a former offensive lineman himself at Northwestern State University. Rabalais became more involved in Cody’s life after his parents’ divorce when he was a youth. His father never visited again, and his single mom, Leah, moved the family into the home of her parents, Eddie and Sherry.
“I like to tell people he was ‘community rich,’ and that’s what I strive for,” Cody said. “He was always trying to help anybody out, no matter who you were.”
Rabalais’ influence has been a motivation for Cody to give back to his community, which he visits often, with the annual football camp. An annual summer event, it may be moved to the spring this year, he said, in hopes to having cooler weather.
Through his nonprofit, Ford’s Pancake House, Cody has organized free Thanksgiving dinners and deliveries of Christmas gifts to local schools. A few years ago, he partnered with Pop’s Place to serve 300-plus free meals to special needs students, and he has provided football equipment and support to Pineville High and elementary schools in the area. Incidentally, he is set to be a guest of honor Thursday at the J.I. Barron Elementary Mardi Gras parade.
He has a soft spot, in terms of his “community-rich” support, for the poor or children with special needs.
Several years ago, when he was with the Buffalo Bills, he partnered with the relief organization Eight Days of Hope to donate $10,000 worth of supplies – including generators, pallets of water, and mattresses – to Pineville after Hurricane Laura. One of those generators was given to Joan Broussard, a single mother of four whose youngest daughter, Kylie Bush, was kept alive by feeding pumps.
Cody said physical education teacher Scotty Harrison from Rapides Training Academy is the president of his non-profit and part of his new “second family.”
“He’s similar to my grandpa,” said Cody, “and we’ve built a good connection. He’s my best friend.”
Cody has been an offensive lineman in the NFL seven years, with three different teams, but not until this season – the last game of this season – did he catch a pass. Ironically, too, it was on his 29th birthday. It was a “gadget play” the team practiced that week, and during the third quarter of that blustery December afternoon, he was the No. 2 receiving option. He lined up as an eligible receiver, and quarterback Joe Burrow found him open on a sideline route and threw the ball his way.
Cody caught it and rumbled down the sideline, breaking tackles before being brought down at the opponents’ 2-yard line for a 21-yard gain. It set up a touchdown in the Bengals’ 37-14 victory over one of his former teams, the Arizona Cardinals, and he became the heaviest offensive lineman to catch a pass of 20-plus yards in NFL history. The rare accomplishment spurred the Cincinnati fans to begin chanting “Cody! Cody!” Teammates joined him in celebration.
“That was fun,” he said.
It was his first NFL career reception, and he told me he hadn’t caught a pass in a football game since his freshman year at Pineville when he played tight end and caught one pass that season.
It was a rare – and fun — catch but next up for fun in Cody’s off-season schedule – which involves workouts four days a week — is Alexandria’s Mardi Gras.
“I grew up being familiar with Mardi Gras,” he said. “It was a big part of my life. But I never knew as a kid there was a king or a queen of Mardi Gras.”
Call him King or call him Grand Marshal or just call him “Buddy” and ask if he can spare a trinket or a pair of beads. It’s another time for him to be “community rich” in the way of his beloved “Papa.”