How Harrison Ford immortalized a late Ripon College professor in the Indiana Jones franchise

FOND DU LAC – William Tyree was a college professor and World War II vet who loved singing and baseball — and he was referenced in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

Tyree taught philosophy at Ripon College for 33 years, retiring in 1983, and later moved to Rushville, Illinois, where he died at 98 in early 2016.

His career overlapped with Harrison Ford's four years as a philosophy student in Ripon starting in 1960, before Ford went on to star in giant film franchises like Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Blade Runner.

"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," the fifth movie of the Indiana Jones franchise, hit theaters June 30, more than 40 years after the original movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark" came out in 1981.

Harrison Ford brings William Tyree into the Indiana Jones universe with one line in the third movie.

In the 1989 film "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," Ford's titular character tells his class, “Archaeology is the search for facts, not truth. If it’s truth you’re looking for, Dr. Tyree’s philosophy class is right down the hall.”

He'd altered the line on the spot to honor Tyree, who taught Ford in three classes during his time in Ripon and kept in touch socially outside of class, according to The State Journal Register in Illinois in a 2016 article after Tyree's death.

However, Tyree's name did not appear in the subsequent novelizations of the story, as the 1989 book by Rob MacGregor named the character Peterman, and the Marvel comic from the same year had no mention altogether.

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Harrison Ford's time in Ripon left lasting impressions.

Though he didn't graduate from Ripon College, Ford's name is still prominent as a notable alumnus across campus.

In addition to philosophy classes, he was active in the college's theater department and wrote in College Days, the student newspaper, according to Ripon College's Facebook page.

After the mention of Tyree's name in the movie, two signs appeared in the campus's East Hall: a "Truth" sign pointed to the philosophy offices and a "Fact" sign pointed to the stairs to the third floor — where the archaeology offices were once located — according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

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Ford also showed pride in the alma mater, as an incoming freshman in 1998 told The Reporter at the time that Ford had approached him on a trip to Hawaii. The college had sent all freshmen a Ripon College shirt as a welcoming gesture, and that's what Ivar Isacsson had worn the day he met Ford.

When he started school that fall, he'd said he was already well known as the boy who met Ford, though he didn't know how word had gotten out.

Ripon College offered Ford an honorary degree after he found success, but he declined, even after Tyree encouraged him to reconsider in 1989.

William Tyree was an inspiration to many other students.

A Rushville friend of Tyree told The State Journal Register that Tyree had noticed in Ford's senior year his interest had shifted from philosophy to drama, and that Tyree had encouraged him to pursue acting instead.

Tyree, who was also chairman of the Philosophy Department for most of his Ripon career, was remembered for being kind, eloquent and supportive, former students and friends told The Reporter in 2016.

He maintained close friendships with many former students and attended nearly every concert, art festival, basketball game and sporting event Ripon College put on.

For a time, he was also a house father for the fraternity Phi Kappa Pi and lived in the house, interacting with the men and overseeing the operations of the house.

In 1997, former students established a scholarship in his name, after he'd funded a scholarship for philosophy students for a few years.

Harrison Ford's Wisconsin connection extends beyond Ripon.

While at Ripon College, Ford also became an amateur pilot and never left it behind, even becoming the honorary chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagles program in the 2000s.

He was part of the volunteer pilots who introduced children to aircrafts with one-on-one flights and flew more than 300 kids with the program, according to EAA.

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EAA established an annual Harrison Ford Scholarship, and Ford often attended AirVenture over the years, including in 2011, when he presented the scholarship to Fond du Lac's Andrew Gunderson at that year's Young Eagles dinner.

In 2016, he returned to the program to fly the 2 millionth young eagle: 16-year-old Jodie Gawthrop of Illinois.

Contact Daphne Lemke at dlemke@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @daphlemke.

This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones honored Ripon College professor Tyree