T. J. Ford

I heard the news on my way home from work this evening: T.J. Ford is retiring from professional basketball. Even in Austin it was a throwaway story; just a two-minute clip on the local sports talk show used as a transition into the discussion of whether or not the Longhorns have a chance against Cincinnati on Friday. By the time I got home, the story wasn’t even on the front page of ESPN.com.

To most hoops fans, Ford is simply an average NBA player with a long list of injuries. But I’ll be damned if I didn’t get home, throw on my No. 11 Milwaukee Bucks jersey and have a beer.

When I was 14, my dad and I went to watch a high school basketball game. We were drawn to the event because a local team from Fort Bend County, the Willowridge Eagles, was making noise as one of the best prep squads in the country. That night, Willowridge destroyed our neighborhood high school by at least 40 points.

Now, Fort Bend County is no stranger to good basketball, as its teams are routinely among the top in Texas and has produced multiple Division I prospects (five-star Texas recruit Cameron Ridley being the latest). But there is no doubt that the best team to ever come out of Fort Bend was those Willowridge Eagles.

Ford, along with Daniel Ewing of Duke fame, led Willowridge to two state championships and a 75-1 record during their junior and senior seasons – ending his high school career on a 62-game winning streak. It wasn’t just that they were good, it was how they did it. They ran and pressed and scored, and pretty much dominated the state of Texas. Ford was the ringleader, making steals, throwing pinpoint passes and using his quickness to jet past defenders on his way to easy layups. In the 2001 McDonald’s All American Game, he posted 11 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three steals in a game-high 35 minutes while leading the West to a 131-125 victory at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium. Our hometown player was legit.

Today, Texas is known for attracting big-time recruits, but in 2001 it was far from a basketball power. Rick Barnes was in his third year as coach, and although he took Texas to the NCAA Tournament in his first three years, the Longhorns never made it past the opening weekend. The most notable player was Chris Mihm – not much for sex appeal.

In Ford’s freshman season, he was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year and took the Horns to the Sweet 16. During his sophomore season, Ford was the National Player of the Year. Texas was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and he took the Horns all the way to the Final Four for the first time since 1947. Although Carmelo Anthony and Syracuse ruined the dream, Ford put Texas Basketball on the map. LaMarcus Aldridge. Daniel Gibson. Kevin Durant. D.J. Augustin. Avery Bradley. Jordan Hamilton. Tristan Thompson. Cory Joseph. Myck Kabongo. None of them would have come to Texas without Ford. Many hoops fans have forgotten how good Ford was in college; he was not only a dominant point guard, but he was simply fun to watch.

The local guy from Fort Bend County made my favorite college team relevant, and that will always be what I think of when I hear the name T.J. Ford. As he bounced from team to team in the NBA, I kept telling myself that he just needed the right system or surrounding talent; or if he could just stay healthy, then Ford would show everyone the skills I knew he had. But, it was not meant to be. Ford, who turns 29 later this month and played a total of 429 games over nine NBA seasons, really was just a mediocre point guard who could never stay off the injured list. But while most basketball fans gloss over the news of Ford’s retirement, I will spend the night watching YouTube highlights of his beautiful passes, steals and drives.

Thank you, T.J. Ford. Thank you for making basketball cool.