the NBA introduced the three-point field goal to its game. In the Celtics' season opener against the Houston Rockets on October 12, 1979, Ford made a 3-pointer with 3:48 remaining in the first quarter. Three days later, an NBA press release credited him with making the first 3-pointer in league history, due to his game being "the first games according to start time". Kevin Grevey of the Washington Bullets made a 3-pointer the same night against the Philadelphia 76ers, but his game started 35 minutes later than Ford's. It is not clear the exact time their respecitve baskets occurred. In 1980–81, the Celtics won the 1981 NBA Finals. He retired after the 1981–82 season with 10-year career averages of 9.2 ppg, 3.4 apg, and 1.6 steals per game, remaining in the top 100 for his career in steals per game. Ford also appeared as a member of the Detroit team in the fantasy basketball comedy film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh in 1979 alongside Pistons teammates Bob Lanier, Eric Money, John Shumate, Kevin Porter, and Leon Douglas. Coaching career Ford became an assistant coach with Boston, first under KC Jones and then Jimmy Rodgers, helping the Celtics to NBA championships in 1984 and 1986. After Rodgers dismissal, Ford was promoted to head coach for the Celtics (1990–95, 222–188, .541), and then dismissed, replaced by former Pistons and Celtics teammate ML Carr. Ford then coached Milwaukee Bucks (1996–98, 69–95, .421), the Los Angeles Clippers (1999–2000, 20–75, .211), and finally the Philadelphia 76ers (2003–04, 12–18, .400). Ford coached the Eastern All-Stars in the 1991 NBA All-Star Game. In addition to coaching at the professional level, Ford spent two seasons (2001–2003) as head basketball coach at Brandeis University, a Division III school in Waltham, Massachusetts. Ford then became a scout for the 76ers and was also a coaching consultant for the New York Knicks. Death On January 17, 2023, six days after his 74th birthday, Ford died at a hospital in Philadelphia from complications of a heart attack he had earlier in the month. Career statistics NBA Source: Regular season |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Detroit | 74 || || 20.8 || .479 || || .645 || 3.6 || 2.6 || || || 6.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Detroit | style="background:#cfecec;"|82* || || 25.1 || .444 || || .740 || 3.7 || 3.4 || 1.8 || .2 || 7.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Detroit