Hampton Athletics Hall of Fame
The winningest head men’s basketball coach in Hampton history, Hank Ford excelled as the Pirates’ mentor from 1975-87.
His 12-year tenure saw him lead the Pirates to a cumulative total of 228 victories and 120 defeats, a winning percentage of .655, the all-time best in HU history. No other men’s basketball coach in HU history has come close to matching his victory total.
During his illustrious stint at Hampton, Ford’s teams captured two CIAA tournament championships, winning the crowns in 1982 and 1983. He led the Pirates to 20 or more victories a total of five times, the best seasons coming in 1981-82 (28-8), 1978-79 (24-6), 1977-78 (24-7) and 1982-83 (23-7).
Ford’s Pirate teams competed in the NAIA District tournament a total of seven times between 1975 and 1987 and in the NAIA national tournament three times.
Ford was selected the CIAA tournament’s most outstanding coach four times, those honors coming in 1979, 1980, 1982 and 1983. In 1980, following a season that saw the Pirates go 21-10, Ford was named NAIA District 19 coach-of-the-year.
One of the top recruiters of his time, Ford brought to Hampton a some of the most skillful basketball players to ever don a Pirate uniform, many of them gracing the pages of HU’s all-time records book. Among the players who played for Hampton during Ford’s tenure are fellow HU Hall of Fame inductees Rick Mahorn, Greg Hines and Darryl Warrick, along with the likes of Tony Washington, Marvin Payne and Cedric Miller. Many of Ford’s players received all-conference, all-district and All-America honors and three of his players reaped CIAA tournament MVP honors.
In 1997, the CIAA bestowed upon Ford that conference’s greatest honor, induction into its Hall of Fame.
