The Most Impactful Kentucky Wildcat Basketball Players (1981-1982-Present): #32 Travis Ford, #31 Deron Feldhaus

#32 Travis Ford (1991-1994)
DATE OF BIRTH: 12/29/1969
Madisonville, KY

Travis Ford’s famed career began at Missouri in 1989. After earning All-Freshmen honors in the storied “Big Eight” conference, Ford transferred to the Rick Pitino led Wildcats the following year.

Ford sat out the 1990-91 season and played a limited understudy role to “The Unforgettables” during his sophomore season of 1991-1992. However, once the other Kentucky boys moved on after the Christian Laettner shot, Ford pushed the Wildcats forward during his junior and senior seasons as the starting Point Guard, leading them to the 1993 Final Four appearance where they would be defeated by Michigan’s Fab Five.

Ford, known as the “Little General” held a 2-1 assist to turnover ratio at Kentucky during his junior and senior seasons  and was capable of  scoring on his own if needed, including his career 44% made 3 point attempts. His 52% from 3 during his junior year still stands as most accurate season by any Kentucky player in history, with at least 80 attempts.

Probably the most amazing display of Ford’s firepower came in Louisville when #3 Kentucky battled #4 Indiana, led by Calbert Chaney. The 5’9″  Ford scored a career high 29 points, including 7-12 from behind the 3 point line and 10-15 from the field and pushed the Cats to an 81-78 victory.

Named NCAA Regional Most Outstanding Player, All-SEC First Team, and SEC Tournament MVP in 1993, Ford followed those accolades up with Second Team All-SEC and SEC Tournament MVP honors in 1994.

KENTUCKY CAREER:
100 Games played
951 Points scored (9.5)
428 Assists (4.2)
88.1% Free Throw

After trying his hand at an NBA career, Ford ventured into acting with similar success with his only movie being the 1997 Wayan’s Brothers film “The Sixth Man” where Ford played the role of  Danny O’Grady.

Once he understood his playing days and acting career were behind him, Travis turned to being the Little General off the court and began coaching at the small Kentucky college of Campbellsville in 1997.

In 2000 he graduated from NAIA to D1 when he was offered the head role at Eastern Kentucky. Ford coached at Eastern for 5 years before being offered a spot at UMass as their head man in 2005. He led the Minutemen back to prominence in the A10 before leaving for Oklahoma State in 2008 where he is currently.