Bob Ford

One of Indiana’s most highly-decorated sports writers, Bob Ford is fittingly the first person inducted into the Howard County Sports Hall of Fame, primarily as a journalist. 

Ford was the Kokomo Tribune sports editor during the golden era of high school sports (1953-80) and he left a huge thumbprint on this community. 

Ford was named Indiana Sportswriter of the Year in 1970 and 1972 and he captured awards from the Associated Press and Associated Press Managing Editors Association in 1973 for a seven-part series on heart attacks and open heart surgery. Ford was one of the nation’s early recipients of bypass heart surgery in 1972. 

In 1986, Ford received the IHSAA Distinguished Service Media Award and in 2005, he garnered his final and most prestigious honor, a berth in the Indiana Sports Writers and Sportscasters Hall of Fame. 

In addition to his involvement in sports through his writing, Ford was active in the city’s Babe Ruth, Connie Mack and American Legion baseball programs. Ford was also a devoted member of Kokomo Elks Lodge 190 where he was secretary from 1980 until his death in 1991.