Gilbert "Gib" Ford (September 14, 1931 – January 10, 2017) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and business executive, who competed in the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

as part of the American basketball team, which won the gold medal. Born in

Tulia, Texas Tulia is a city in, and county seat of, Swisher County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,967 at the 2010 census; in the 2018 census estimate, it had fallen to 4,682. The city is at the junction of U.S. Route 87 and Texas State Highway ...

, he played college basketball at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. He worked for thirty-five years at Converse, Inc., ultimately becoming the company's chairman and CEO. Ford played for Amarillo High School. In 1950 he was a Texas High School All State player and a participant in the Texas High School All Star Game. His name is enshrined in the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame. Following High School, Ford played basketball for the University of Texas from 1950–1954, and was co-captain of the team his senior year, when the team was a co-champion of the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

. He was named to various All- SWC teams and took part in the 1954 Shrine East/West College All Star Game in Kansas City. In 1986, he was inducted into the University of Texas Longhorn Hall of Honor. After graduation from Texas in 1954, where he was also a member of

Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore in Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pen ...

fraternity, Ford was a starter for the famous Phillips 66 Oilers, which won the National AAU Championship in 1955, and the

National Industrial Basketball League The National Industrial Basketball League was founded in 1947 to enable U.S. mill workers a chance to compete in basketball. The league was founded by the industrial teams (teams sponsored by the large companies and made up of their employees) be ...

Championship in 1955 and 1958. While serving in the Air Force, Ford played on the 1956 All Air Force Team and the All Armed Forces Team, which qualified for the 1956 Olympic trials. In August 1994, Ford was appointed chairman of the board and CEO of Converse, Inc. He retired December 1, 1996 after 35 years of service with the company. Ford first joined Converse as a member of the sales staff in 1961, and served in a number of executive capacities before becoming president of the company in 1986. Ford was affiliated with several sporting goods and footwear manufacturers' organizations. He served two terms, 1982–85 and 1991–93, as the chairman of the board of the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA). He was instrumental in creating the industry's first Super Show in 1986, the world's largest sporting goods trade show. He also was a member of the boards of directors of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry, the Two/Ten Foundation, the Footwear Industries of America, the Rubber and Plastic Footwear Manufacturers Association, the New England Sports Hall of Fame, and the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

. He served a six-year term as a member of the board of trustees for Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

References

External links

1956 USA Men's National Team
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Gilbert Ford's obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Gilbert 1931 births 2017 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball players at the 1956 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Texas Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball People from Tulia, Texas Phillips 66ers players Texas Longhorns men's basketball players United States men's national basketball team players