15 Reggie Warford

Reggie Warford was born Reginald Garfield Warford on September 15, 1954, in Greenville, Kentucky, to the Reverend Roland Hayes Warford and Valencia Dean Warford. Raised in nearby Drakesboro, he scored 1,940 points and helped Drakesboro High School compile a 73-24 record over three seasons. The quick, left-handed guard earned second-team All-State honors and also lettered four years in baseball. After initially committing to Austin Peay, Warford became Joe B. Hall’s first recruit as Kentucky’s head coach.

As a freshman in 1972-73, Warford played primarily for Kentucky’s freshman team, leading the squad with a 17.5-point scoring average while shooting 45.3 percent from the field. He appeared briefly in one varsity game and received the program’s Freshman Leadership Award. More importantly, he began a four-year journey that would make him the second Black player to represent Kentucky men’s basketball and the first to complete his playing career and graduate from the university.

Warford saw limited varsity action as a sophomore in 1973-74, appearing in seven games. Although playing time was scarce, his quickness and outside shooting gave Hall an option in the backcourt, and his determination to remain at Kentucky carried historical importance during the program’s continuing integration.

As a junior, Warford appeared in 14 games for the 1974-75 Wildcats. That Kentucky team rebounded from the program’s first non-winning season in nearly half a century to defeat previously unbeaten Indiana in the NCAA Tournament, advance to the Final Four and finish as national runner-up after facing UCLA in John Wooden’s final game. Warford’s perseverance made him a respected member of one of the most memorable teams of the Joe B. Hall era.

Warford’s patience was rewarded during his senior season. The lone senior on Kentucky’s 1975-76 roster, he played in all 28 games, averaged 6.4 points and 2.4 assists and provided leadership to a young team featuring Jack Givens, Rick Robey, Mike Phillips and James Lee. He finished the season with 180 points and helped Kentucky win the National Invitation Tournament. Warford received the Outstanding Senior, Scholastic and 110 Percenter awards, as well as recognition for committing the fewest turnovers.

His defining Kentucky performance came in the 1976 NIT championship game at Madison Square Garden. With Kentucky locked in a close contest against UNC Charlotte, Warford drove for a left-handed layup that put the Wildcats ahead 60-59 and later sank a 15-foot jumper for a 64-63 lead they never surrendered. Kentucky won 71-67, allowing its senior leader to close his career as an NIT champion.

Warford earned a degree in arts and sciences from Kentucky and later received a master’s degree in education from Murray State. He built a long coaching career that included assistant positions at Pittsburgh, Iowa State and Long Beach State and a season as head coach of the Harlem Globetrotters. He later coached his sons, Grant and Tyler, at Muhlenberg County High School and guided the Mustangs to the Sweet Sixteen in his first season. In 1983, Warford repeatedly entered a burning home to rescue an elderly couple, heroism that earned him Kentucky’s Medal of Valor and the United States Basketball Writers Association’s Most Courageous Award. Inducted into the KHSAA Hall of Fame in 2019, Warford died at his Pittsburgh home on May 26, 2022, at age 67 after enduring numerous health problems and multiple organ transplants. He was survived by his wife, Marisa, and their sons, Grant and Tyler.