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Topic:  OT - Coach Gene Ford Passes

Topic:  OT - Coach Gene Ford Passes
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Buck.Cat
General User

Member Since: 12/21/2017
Post Count: 365

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  Message Not Read  OT - Coach Gene Ford Passes
   Posted: 6/28/2019 12:48:48 PM 
Sending good vibes to the Ford family.
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bobcatsquared
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Post Count: 5,182

Status: Online
  Message Not Read  RE: OT - Coach Gene Ford Passes
   Posted: 6/28/2019 2:26:00 PM 
Got to know Coach Ford in mid 1980s when I was the sports editor at Cambridge Jeffersonian - a different lifetime ago. Always appreciated how he tried to make my job a little easier than some coaches that I dealt with.
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GoCats105
General User

Member Since: 1/31/2006
Location: Seattle, WA
Post Count: 7,063

Status: Offline
  Message Not Read  RE: OT - Coach Gene Ford Passes
   Posted: 6/28/2019 3:15:27 PM 
I never got the chance to personally meet Coach Ford, and only scrimmaged against his Cambridge Bobcats once during my high school career. But I always felt a respect toward him as a person and coach. A true legend.
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Jeff McKinney
Moderator

Member Since: 11/12/2004
Post Count: 6,101

Status: Offline
  Message Not Read  RE: OT - Coach Gene Ford Passes
   Posted: 6/28/2019 5:04:14 PM 
Very sorry to hear this. I got a little acquainted with Coach Ford back in the days when Geno and Dustin were playing and coaching for the Bobcats.
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Long Train Runnin'
General User

Member Since: 12/25/2004
Location: Cambridge, OH
Post Count: 118

Status: Offline
  Message Not Read  RE: OT - Coach Gene Ford Passes
   Posted: 6/28/2019 7:45:29 PM 
I had the pleasure of knowing Gene for nearly 25 years. His friends here in Cambridge have known for some time that he hadn't been well, but it is still a shock. I met Gene when I first started working at CHS in 1995, and he asked me to become part of his program as his statman at the beginning of the 1997-98 season (a role I still proudly hold today). I never met a better basketball mind, nor a coach who was a better motivator. He had a saying: "If anything goes wrong, then I did it. If anything goes sort of right, then we did it. If anything goes totally right, then the players did it. That's all you need to know to get kids to want to play for you."

But even more important than that, Gene was a friend. 10 months ago I had the honor of introducing Gene at his induction to the Cambridge Athletic Hall of Fame. Many stories--some on the verge of tall tales--were told that night (Gene was quite a character!), and I'm sure in the next couple of weeks many more will be told, as laughter mixes with tears. It is important that we all remember the good times. He would want it that way.

Goodbye and Godspeed, Coach. You will be missed.

Last Edited: 6/28/2019 7:46:21 PM by Long Train Runnin'
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ou79
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Post Count: 650

Status: Offline
  Message Not Read  RE: OT - Coach Gene Ford Passes
   Posted: 6/28/2019 10:01:40 PM 
His death was the lead-off story on the local sports news here in the Valley on Channel 9 out of Steubenville. Bob Huggins gave a very nice statement about Gene and the fact that they had grown up together and played basketball with each other and against each other. Gene Ford was a legend here in the Valley.
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Buck.Cat
General User

Member Since: 12/21/2017
Post Count: 365

Status: Offline
  Message Not Read  RE: OT - Coach Gene Ford Passes
   Posted: 6/28/2019 10:30:22 PM 
https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/2019/0... /
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Alan Swank
General User

Member Since: 12/11/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 7,072

Status: Offline
  Message Not Read  RE: OT - Coach Gene Ford Passes
   Posted: 6/29/2019 11:44:28 AM 
I first met Gene in the fall of 1973 when he was a senior on Jim Burson's Muskingum team and i was trying out as a freshman (Burson recruited kids but he had open one month long tryouts too). The two words I'd use to describe Gene are tenacious and smart. He was relentless in guarding his man and could post up better than any small guard I've ever seen. Burson had several designed sets that put Gene down low to post up his man and hit rock back jumper after rock back jumper not to mention his up and under move which generally got a man off of his feet resulting in a foul and a three point play. He was in all reality the coach on the floor a true extension of his cerebral coach. If you want to attend the memorial service, you better get there earlier. It will be a packed house of former teammates, former players and friends.
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