Chris Ford

Christopher Joseph Ford (January 11, 1949 – January 17, 2023) was an American professional basketball player and head coach in the National Basketball Association. A 6-foot-5 guard from Atlantic City, New Jersey, and nicknamed "the Mad Bomber," Ford played high school basketball at Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, where he averaged a Cape-Atlantic League record 33 points per game as a senior and finished with 1,507 career points, which remained a school record as of 2021. He went on to Villanova University, sitting out his first year as required at the time, then averaged 16.1 points per game and helped the team reach the regional finals of the 1970 NCAA tournament, a 97–74 loss to St. Bonaventure.

Ford spent most of his NBA playing career with the Detroit Pistons before finishing with the Boston Celtics. In the Celtics' 1979 season opener, he was credited with making the first official three-point shot in NBA history. He won an NBA championship with Boston in 1981. Between 1990 and 1995, Ford served as head coach of the Celtics, and he went on to coach three other NBA franchises.