Chris Ford, who performed guard for the Boston Celtics after they gained the 1981 N.B.A. championship and later coached the crew together with two others within the N.B.A., however who was maybe greatest remembered for making the primary 3-point shot within the league’s historical past, died on Tuesday. He was 74.
Ford’s household introduced his dying by means of the Celtics however didn’t present particulars. The Press of Atlantic Metropolis reported that he died in Philadelphia after having a coronary heart assault this month.
The N.B.A. instituted the 3-pointer in its 1979-80 season, borrowing the thought from the previous American Basketball Affiliation, which had merged with the N.B.A. in 1976. On Oct. 12, 1979, the opening evening of the season, Ford was behind the arc when he caught a cross from guard Tiny Archibald and shot the basketball over the outstretched hand of the Houston Rockets’ Robert Reid with 3 minutes 48 seconds left within the first quarter.
However Kevin Grevey of the Washington Bullets additionally hit a 3-point shot that evening, in one other early-evening sport, towards the Philadelphia 76ers. After that sport, a reporter advised Grevey that he had “simply set a report that may by no means be damaged,” based on an account by The New York Instances in 2021.
Three nights after these season-openers, the N.B.A. issued a information launch saying that Ford was, the truth is, the 3-point pioneer, for the reason that Celtics-Rockets sport had began 35 minutes earlier than the Bullets-Sixers matchup. Nonetheless, it was unclear at what precise time of the night every 3-point basket was made.
The three-pointer went on to change into maybe probably the most dominant offensive weapon used within the N.B.A.
Ford joined the Celtics early within the 1978-79 season in a commerce with the Detroit Pistons. He performed with Boston by means of the 1981-82 season. After serving as an assistant coach with the Celtics, he was the crew’s head coach for 5 seasons within the Nineteen Nineties. He later coached the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Christopher Joseph Ford was born on Jan. 11, 1949, in Atlantic Metropolis, N.J. He helped take Villanova to 3 N.C.A.A. match appearances, together with a visit to the 1971 nationwide championship sport, the place the Wildcats misplaced to U.C.L.A., coached by John Picket.
At 6 toes 5 inches, Ford was tall for a guard of his period. He averaged 15.8 factors a sport throughout his collegiate profession and was chosen by the Detroit Pistons within the second spherical of the 1972 N.B.A. draft.
In his first season with the Celtics, Ford averaged what grew to become a career-high 15.6 factors a sport and was voted the crew’s most precious participant. He averaged 9.2 factors a sport with 3.4 assists for his N.B.A. profession. He was an assistant coach for the Celtics for seven seasons below their former guard Okay.C. Jones, after which succeeded Jimmy Rodgers because the crew’s head coach. Ford held the put up from the 1990-91 season to 1994-95 season. He compiled a 222-188 report with 4 playoff appearances.
He was the top coach of the Milwaukee Bucks from 1996 to 1998, and of the Los Angeles Clippers from 1998 to 2000. He started the 2003-4 season as an assistant coach for the 76ers and coached the ultimate 30 video games of that season after Coach Andy Ayers had been fired.
In keeping with The Boston Globe, Ford is survived by his spouse, Kathy; their youngsters, Chris Jr., Katie, Anthony and Michael; and 7 grandchildren.
Kevin Grevey stated he didn’t revisit the chance that it was he, not Ford, who had made the N.B.A.’s first 3-pointer till greater than a decade after these video games, when he bumped into the reporter who had advised him in October 1979 that he had made historical past.
Grevey stated he would look into the matter additional, however as he advised The Instances in 2021, “I swear I don’t care.”
However 3-pointers had been hardly the one weapon that Ford had.
In keeping with CBS Boston, Ford was reported to have dunked not less than as soon as on the Corridor of Famer Julius Erving, one of the well-known dunkers in N.B.A. historical past, whose nickname was Dr. J. That impressed Ford’s teammates to provide Ford a nickname of his personal: “Doc.”