| Chris Ford joins the Sixers as an assistant bench coach for the 2003-04 season with 26-years of NBA experience – 10 years as a player, nine years as a head coach and seven seasons as an assistant coach. During his NBA career, Ford has earned three NBA Championship rings – one as player (Boston, 1981) and two as an assistant coach (Boston, 1984 and 1986).
Ford, 54, has served as a head coach with the Boston Celtics (1990-91 to 1994-95), Milwaukee Bucks (1996-97 to 1997-98) and L.A. Clippers (1998-99 to 1999-2000) and ranks among the top-50 winningest coaches in NBA history with 311 career victories (311-358, .465). Most recently, Ford served as the head coach at Brandeis University (2001-02 to 2002-03).
On June 12, 1990, Ford began his head-coaching career with the Celtics. In his first season, he guided the Celtics to 55-26 (.683) en route to becoming just the fourth first-year head coach to coach in the NBA All-Star game. The Celtics – which featured Hall of Famers Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale – captured back-to-back Atlantic Division Championships in 1990-91 and 1991-02. Ford compiled an overall record of 222-188 (.541), leading Boston to the playoffs in four of the five seasons.
Ford continued his NBA head-coaching career on June 17, 1996, when he was hired by the Milwaukee Bucks. In two seasons, he guided the Bucks to a 69-95 (.421) record, highlighted by an eight-game improvement over the previous season in his first season. While with Milwaukee, he coached his 500th game in the NBA (11/15/97). Following two seasons in Milwaukee, Ford spent two seasons with the L.A. Clippers, where he posted a 20-75 (.211) record.
A 6-5 guard out of Villanova University, Ford’s was selected in the second round (17th overall) of the 1972 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons. Ford played seven seasons with the Pistons (1972-73 to 1978-79) and averaged 8.5 points, 3.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 485 games with Detroit before being traded to Boston on Oct. 19, 1978 three games into the 1978-79 season.
In his first season in Boston (1978-79), Ford averaged 15.6 points, a team-best 4.7 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game and was voted the team’s MVP. Ford, who earned his first championship ring when he helped the Celtics defeat the Houston Rockets in six games in the 1981 NBA Finals, finished his career averaging 9.2 points, 3.4 assists and 3.0 rebounds in 10 seasons. A 37.5 percent (126-336) three-point shooter, Ford may best be known for hitting the first three-point basket in NBA history in a game played at the Boston Garden on Oct. 12, 1979.
Following the 1981-82 season, Ford joined the Boston Celtics broadcast team for one season before being named an assistant coach under K.C Jones from 1983-84 to 1987-88. He was retained as an assistant under Jim Rodgers from 1988-98 to 1989-90.
A native of Atlantic City, N.J., Ford has strong ties to the Delaware Valley. He attended Holy Spirit High School (Absecon, N.J.) and went on to play at Villanova from 1968-72, where he helped Villanova advance to the 1971 NCAA championship game against UCLA. A member of the Wildcats Hall of Fame, Ford graduated in 1972 with a degree in business.
He and his wife Kathy have four children: Chris, Katie, Anthony and Michael. Following in their father’s footsteps, Chris teaches and coaches JV girls’ basketball at Atlantic City High School and Katie is currently a teacher and head girls’ basketball coach at Oakcrest High School. |
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