UNC basketball legend Phil Ford slammed the controversial North Carolina law known as HB2 and endorsed Roy Cooper for North Carolina governor in an email to Cooper’s supporters Friday afternoon.

Ford wrote that he was disappointed in the loss of NCAA and ACC events as a result of HB2.  He recalled the 1975 ACC Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum, “One of the highlights of my basketball career at North Carolina was the 1975 ACC Tournament in the Greensboro Coliseum. I’ll never forget cutting down those nets with my teammates after winning the championship.”

Ford added, “Communities all over the state are suffering from this needless, discriminatory law.  I’m proud to support Roy Cooper, who said at the very beginning that this law was a very bad idea.”

The NCAA and the ACC both announced that they would be pulling events from North Carolina for the 2016-17 academic year, citing HB2.

HB2 is the common term used to describe a law passed by the North Carolina General Assembly in March that requires transgender individuals to use the bathroom and changing facility in government-owned buildings that matches their birth certificate rather than their gender identity. The law also blocks localities from extending nondiscrimination guidelines beyond the state policy and keeps local governing bodies from increasing the minimum wage.

Ford led the Tar Heels to an ACC Tournament Championship as a freshman in 1975.  Carolina also won the ACC Tournament with Ford in 1977.  Both tournaments were held in the Greensboro Coliseum.  Ford finished his college career and Carolina’s all-time leading scorer.  He held that record for 30 years.  He was a consensus All-American three times and was the 1979 NBA Rookie of the Year.  After retiring from his playing career, Ford became an assistant coach at UNC under Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge.  Phil Ford is a Rocky Mount, North Carolina native.

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