No. 16: Phil Ford
Every offseason, we run historical ranking series focusing on North Carolina basketball and football.
The purpose each spring isn’t to make declarative statements, but to have fun offering a subjective look at the best teams and players ever at Carolina. This effort is to generate discourse, debate, and take UNC fans down memory lane.
This season, we are doing something a little different, combining football and basketball, as we offer our take on the Top 40 UNC football and basketball players of all time. The criteria is quite simple: The process includes playing careers with the Tar Heels and professionally, other relevant impacts they’ve had on their sports, coaching, and championships. We also gave a lean toward all UNC accomplishments.
So, this isn’t a UNC-only list, a pro-only list, or a straight up purely best ever list. Some Tar Heels on this list didn’t have great pro careers but were so good and historic at UNC, they simply had to make the cut. Some on this list weren’t stars at UNC, but had outstanding and/or highly distinguished pro careers, that it warranted their place among these 40 athletes.
We hope you enjoy the list and feel free to disagree, as we know many will.
We continue our countdown with:
No. 16: Phil Ford (1974-78)
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Perhaps the most beloved Tar Heel of all time in any sport, Ford is known for perfectly executing Dean Smith’s famous Four Corners offense. He was the 1978 National Player of the Year, three-time All-America including twice as a first-team member, 1978 ACC Player of the Year; three-time first-team All-ACC, 1975 ACC Tournament MVP, was twice named ACC Male Athlete of the Year, was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012, and his jersey No. 12 is retired by UNC.
Ford graduated as UNC’s all-time leading scorer (since broken by Tyler Hansbrough) with 2,290 points, as he averaged 18.6 points in 123 games at UNC. Ford handed out 753 career assists, an average of 6.1 average assists per game.
One of only three players in ACC history to score 2,000 or more points and hand out 600 or more assists. Started on the U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal in 1976.
Many believe he’s the greatest player in school history.
Professionally, was the No. 2 overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft by the Kansas City Kings, was named 1979 NBA Rookie of the Year, and was All-NBA second team in 1979. He averaged between 15.9 and 17.5 points in each of his first three seasons with the Kings.
He was twice named NBA Player of the Week, once in 1979 and again in 1981. He handed out 22 assists in a game during his rookie season. His scoring career-high was 38 points in 1981.
Ford played seven years in the NBA, scored 5,594 points (11.6 average), handed out 3,083 assists (6.4 average), and registered 589 steals (1.2 per game).
Ford served as an assistant coach for Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge for 14 years with teams that advanced to six Final Fours and won the 1993 national championship. He has worked for the Educational Foundation at the school for a long time, too. He’s served UNC in various capacities for most of his adult life.