Warford, Kentucky’s first Black 4-year player, dies

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Reggie Warford, who was Kentucky’s second Black males’s basketball participant and first Black basketball participant to graduate, has died. He was 67.

Kentucky basketball spokeswoman Deb Moore stated Warford’s spouse, Marisa, notified coach John Calipari that Warford had died Thursday in Pittsburgh. Warford had handled quite a few well being points the previous decade and underwent a sequence of transplants.

Calipari, who coached with Warford at Pittsburgh, tweeted: “I will miss my brother, could God bless you Reggie.”

Tom Payne was Kentucky’s first Black signee in 1969 below legendary coach Adolph Rupp and performed the 1970-71 season. In 1972, Warford turned coach Joe B. Corridor’s first signee after the previous assistant succeeded Rupp.

Warford went on to turn into the Wildcats’ first Black four-year participant and graduated in 1976 with a level in arts and sciences.

A number of African-American gamers adopted the Drakesboro (Kentucky) Excessive College product, who scored 206 factors in 50 video games with the Wildcats from 1972-76. One among his teammates was eventual All-American ahead Jack “Goose” Givens, who led Kentucky to the 1978 NCAA title.

Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart expressed condolences to Warford’s household, pals and teammates, and cited Warford’s “essential position” in Kentucky sports activities historical past.

“His profession as a participant and scholar, and his presence as a local Kentuckian, helped set the stage for the continued progress of integration of Kentucky basketball and our whole athletics program,” Barnhart stated.

Warford turned a starter for Kentucky late in his senior season and averaged 6.5 factors per sport. His 14 factors rallied Kentucky previous UNC-Charlotte 71-67 for the NIT championship in New York.

Warford was an assistant coach at Pitt, Iowa State and Lengthy Seashore State. He was additionally the Harlem Globetrotters’ head coach in 2003.

Warford gained the U.S. Basketball Writers Affiliation’s Most Brave Award in 1984. He was inducted into the Kentucky Excessive College Athletic Affiliation’s Corridor of Fame in 2019.

Warford is survived by his spouse and sons Grant and Tyler.