Ken ‘Jersey Red’ Ford Dies
Monday, January 11, 2016
The infamous sports talk show caller, confidant to Rick Pitino and local sports writer Ken Jersey Red' Ford has passed away according to his close friend Scott Cordischi of GoLocal.
As Cordischi said in an interview today, "He (Jersey Red) was one of a kind. After they made him, they truly broke the mold. Born and raised in Jersey City, NJ, he was a diehard NY fan who loved to play the role of antagonist with Boston fans. But there was always that implied wink when he was busting your chops. Some people are book smart and some are street smart. He was most definitely the latter."
If you ever listen to the old sports shows on "The Score" -- you could not miss the calls from "Jersey Red in Fall River." He was the very definition of "colorful."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTHe might be best described as the combination of Jimmy Cannon and Fall River - raw, insightful and ever controversial. Make no mistake about it his friends were guys in sports - Cordischi, Bob Lobel, Bill Reynolds and Pitino.
In Pitino and Reynolds' New York Times bestseller, "Success if a Choice" they thanked Ken "Jersey Red" Ford for all of his support.
As Lobel, formerly of WBZ sports in Boston, wrote in his GoLocal column in 2012, "I bring up Pitino because of a little known meeting at the Palm restaurant. Yours truly and Alan Miller (now of Boston.com) were hosts and producers of the Rick Pitino show. Others at this meeting were invited exclusively through Pitino. Guests were long time friend Ken Ford (aka Jersey Red), accompanied by his driver and trainer, also some players were in attendance. Suddenly, those present were asked to vote on whether Pitino should walk away from his contract with the Celtics, leaving over 20 million on the table in the process." Ford was involved in everything in sports in the 1990s.
As Ford often wrote in his column that appeared in the Fall River Herald about the raw elements of sports, gambling, the Celtics, Rick Pitino and so much more.
Here is a small portion of a coumn that appeared in the Fall River Herlad in 1999.
RED'S WORLD: He loves him, he loves him not... Rick and Jersey, together again This is a story of two visits to the Fleet Center. My first two of this year, a year in which the Celtics and their coach have been a disappointment to say the least. The coach and I have been friends for approximately 27 years, not without a few periods of silence by two very stubborn people, especially me, but even though we weren't speaking I did watch every game and suffered through every loss. But I was excited to get up there and see exactly what was going on. Yes, the "feud" between the Celtics coach and yours truly is officially over and I did make up for a couple of games last week and got to see this team up close and personal on my first visit. The Celts won easily over the Wizards and I liked what I saw. I was accompanied by a local fella named Angelo Fillippi. I first introduced Rick to Angelo when he was coaching at Boston University and they hit off instantly. Angelo's best memory of Pitino in those days was how "driven" he was to win. One night, we made the trek to Keaney Gym at URI to watch them play. At halftime, Rick's Terriers were down by about 20 and went on to defeat the Rams by pressing and trapping and never giving up, with Pitino going "ballistic" on the sidelines.
