Derrick Hord
- Thread starter Uncle Adolph
- Start date
He was a very good player but frustrating. I always had the feeling he could’ve been great, but just didn’t quite make it. Still, he was smooth. I loved watching him play.
![[smoke]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/smokin.r191677.gif "Cool [smoke]")
He is living in Lexington and working for UK in their department of Alzheimer’s research.
The high school class of 1979 is I think by consensus regarded as the best ever. Ralph Sampson. Isaiah. Dominique. James Worthy. Clark Kellogg. Byron Scott. Sam Bowie. Just an amazing list of names. It's really crazy to think Hord was towards the top of that list. He wasn't #1, but in the top 5 as I recall.....
He was from Bristol, I think. Averaged about 16 points his jr year. But I can’t recall why his production fell off dramatically his sr year.
anyone recall?
Still in Lexington, I attend church with him. One of the most genuine former UK guys I know.
Yep still in town, see him in Kroger all the time. Class guy.
Might be best/deepest class ever...I'll add a few if you don't mind..
Quintin Dailey
Terry Fair
Sidney Green
Greg Kite
Sidney Lowe
Dirk Minniefield
Steve Stipanovich
Derek Whittenburg
John Paxson
Antoine Carr
Darren Daye
Xavier McDaniel
I think Rodney McCray was considered above several of those as well.
Hord is underrated. His big sin was having a better junior year than senior year. Needed a Calipari to tell him to leave early.
I also liked him and Charles Hurt. Hord was smooth and Hurt was a brute.
There were several guys that had much better Jr years than their Sr. Besides Hord, there was Lavon Williams, Fred Cowan, Dirk Minniefield, Jim Master, and James Blackmon. Each of these had a fairly big drop off in points for their senior years. Hord was one of my dad’s favorites but it never seemed to click with him. I remember during his freshman and sophomore years he would pass up an open jumper to drive in closer and end up with a worse shot. His Junior year he had a lot of confidence in that short jump shot and that’s why he had a great year.
Melvin Turpin was actually part of this class but decided to go to Fork Union Acad. for a year. L. Hamilton and Joe B set this up. Melvin came in a year later with Masters and Bearup.
Those two are on probably the earliest UK team I remember watching. Hurt was a bad mofo and I remember hord as more of an outside shooter. I remember him being decent but I can’t remember a game or a play. More of a comment on my age at the time than his play I am sure.
I posted about this class in another thread a couple of months ago noting how incredible it was. Another great from the class was Clark Kellogg who played at Ohio State. Kentucky recruited Clark, Stipanovich and Sampson very heavily as I recall. Charles Hurt was also in that class and Melvin Turpin would have been had he not gone to prep school.
Derrick Hord was such a major recruit it came down to UNC and UK for his services. Amazingly his High School coach just happened to become an assistant coach on Hall’s staff, and UK landed Hord.
Yes
Early favorites when all I had to go by for judging our incoming players was the handdrawn uk calendars that hung in Coleman’s auto parts store in middlesboro-
whew. I thought you were going to tell me he had fake classes and went through a diploma mill
Xavier McDaniel was not in that class. He didn't come around until a couple years later.
Saw that group play in Freedom Hall at the Derby All Star Classic when that was a premier game. I think Minnefield was in that game also
Derrick before his Jr and Sr. year was considered the top player. That all changed going into his Sr. year when Bowie, Sampson, Wilkins, Worthy, Isiah as consensus best players. Sampson during the All Star games dominated.
D. Hord was recruited very hard by UNC, UK, and UT. There was a plane crash that Joe Dean Jr. was on with a UK booster, killed the booster I think in Bristol. Always thought it was recruiting trip for Derrick but not sure.
D. Hord was recruited very hard by UNC, UK, and UT. There was a plane crash that Joe Dean Jr. was on with a UK booster, killed the booster I think in Bristol. Always thought it was recruiting trip for Derrick but not sure.
A
anon_q409idbs5m40a
Guest
As I recall, he had a great junior season then dropped off during his Senior year. His scoring production went down from about 16ppg to around 9-10 ppg. Played the latter part of his Senior season with a badly sprained ankle.
Hord's minutes went way down his senior season(738) compared to junior year(1092), partly due to the aforementioned ankle injury but also attributed to the addition of freshman Kenny Walker
The reason we got Hord was "Wild" Bill Gatton who owned car dealerships in the Bristol area and was a UK alumus.
Close but that was Joe Dean Jr and his wife Ellen. Bristol was playing Chattanooga Baylor lead by UK recruit and eventual UNC Tarheel, Jimmy Braddock. By that time, Coach Parsons was no longer actively involved in off campus recruiting due in part to recently changed NCAA rules limiting the number of coaches that could recruit off campus.
Had a hard time with Hall's coaching style. He got off to such a big start his senior year, 23 against Kansas, 26 against Villanova, Wildcat Invitational MVP, then became inconsistent and Hall then fell in love with Walker's abilities. He then turned an ankle on senior night and wasn't a factor until the first half against UofL. He was a really good player. Hall didn't help him much. Hord was much better a player when he was given positive reinforcement, not Hall's style. One of the best outside shooters I've soon. Never saw a jump shooter elevate so high on his shot as did Hord.
He and Joe B. were the guest speakers at my brothers's middle school basketball banquet when he was still an active player.Even as a little kid I can remember how impressed I was with him. He was very classy and cordial to everyone, especially the kids. My dad always made sure he pointed out things like that to me back in the day. He carried himself like a CEO more than a college basketball player.
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