Derrick Hord
Student-Athlete
Basketball, Track & Field
Tennessee High School
Class of 1979
Derrick Hord 1979 (Tennessee High School)
Derrick Hord, the most talented individual to ever play for the Viking basketball team, had a star-studded four-year career as a starter for THS and also participated in track and field. He still holds the THS record in the discus and was a three-time state qualifier.
Hord, whose jersey was retired at THS, earned every honor possible while playing for the Vikings, including being named to the All-State team for three years. He started as a freshman and played in all 142 games the Vikings played through his senior year, never missing a game. The 6-foot-7 forward also scored in double digits in 134 of those games, averaging 21.9 ppg and 12.1 rpg over his career.
While Hord was on the floor, the Vikings recorded a 116-26 record. He finished his career with 2,785 points.
As a freshman, Hord averaged 13.36 points a game and was named to the All-Conference and All-District teams. His sophomore season, he averaged 20.08 ppg and was named to All-Conference, All-District teams, All-Region, and All-State teams. He was also named the Upper East Tennessee Player of the Year, Mr. Basketball in Tennessee, selected to Street & Smith’s Nation’s Top 25, the National Prep Sports All-Southern Team, and was a B.C. Camp Top Prospect.
As a junior, Hord averaged 21.6 ppg and was again selected to the All-Conference, All-District, All-Region, and All-State teams. He was selected as a Parade Magazine All-American, and other honors included U.S. Basketball Weekly’s Top Junior, Basketball Weekly All-American, Adidas All-American, Street and Smith’s All-American, All-Southern, Upper East Tennessee Player of the Year, a Thoroughbred Award Winner, a member of South’s Dandy Dozen team, and he was named to the Mini Olympics team.
Hord scored 26.6 points a game in 1978-79 and hauled in nearly 13 rebounds a game, leading the Vikings to a sub-state berth and a 32-3 record. He was again named to the All-Conference, All-District, All-Region, and All-State teams, and for the third straight year, he was the Upper East Tennessee Player of the Year.
He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame (High School Division) in 1979 and was named a McDonald’s All-American and a First-Team All-American by Parade, Street & Smith, Complete Sports Magazine, and Basketball Weekly. He was a National Coach and Street & Smith’s U.S. Top Prospect, and he played in the All-American Game, the Capital Classic All-Star Game, the Derby Classic, and the Seamco Classic.
In track, Hord finished second in the state in discus in his sophomore and junior years and was sixth as a freshman. The state of Tennessee enacted a rule that stated if an athlete participated in All-Star games, McDonald's All-American contests, etc., they could not participate in spring sports, thus keeping Hord from what would likely have been a state title in the discus his senior season.
Hord accepted a scholarship offer from the University of Kentucky, over Tennessee, North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Oregon, and Virginia Tech. where he played for four seasons.
As a freshman at Kentucky, Hord played in all 33 games, averaging 5.9 points per game to go with 2.5 rebounds. As a sophomore, Hord played in all 28 games and was second on the team in scoring, hitting double figures 13 times.
His junior year, Hord was All-SEC, All-District (Basketball Writers) and honorable mention All-American after leading UK in scoring (16.3 ppg) and minutes played (36.4 per game). He averaged 18.4 ppg in SEC action and also hit 56.6 percent from the field during league play as opposed to 49.2 percent overall. During his senior campaign, Hord averaged 8.9 points per game and 3.1 rebounds per game.
At the end of his college career, Hord had scored 1,220 points, ranking him 20th among Kentucky's all-time scorers.
After starring for the Wildcats, he was drafted No. 67 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the third round of the 1983 NBA Draft.
Hord credits his mother and grandmother, his John Wesley United Methodist Church family, his McDowell Street friends, Lee Crabtree at Fairmount Elementary, Tommy McDaniel, Mike Morton, Ron Wallace at Vance Junior High, and Bob Chambers, his coach at Tennessee High, who scouted him when he was in grade school, with helping him achieve such great success on the court and in life.
