The Nashville Chamber of Commerce is extremely excited to announced the guest speaker for this year’s Distinguished Citizen Award Ceremony will be Nash County native Phil Ford.

Ford is a former UNC basketball star and assistant coach. He was the second pick in the NBA draft in 1978 and was named NBA Rookie of the Year with the Kansas City Kings in 1979.

In 1988 Ford returned to UNC as an assistant coach to Dean Smith and later served as top assistant to Bill Guthridge. Ford was elected to the NC Sports Hall of Fame in 1991 and in 2002 was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men’s basketball team. He is a 1976 Olympic Gold Medalist among other prestigious awards. He earned his BS in Business Administration in 1978.

Ford also served as assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks and Charlotte Bobcats.   He currently works for the Educational Foundation at UNC and the Phil Ford Foundation which supports obesity research and prevention efforts at the University of North Carolina.

The Distinguished Citizen Award is presented to a citizen or business person from the Nashville area that strives to make the community a better place.

Past recipients include Joe Wilson, Ben Casey, Mildred Hinton, Elsie Clark, Cliff Joyner, Roger Murray, Nan Strickland, Ann Richardson, Jo Anne Cooper, W.C. and Thelma Cooke, Bob Joyner, Mary Hobbs McIntyre, William and Betty Sullivan, Jeanette Shaw, Joe and Cheryl Stanton, Jim Boehm and Pete and Edith Gupton, Amy Beasley, Sonny Brantley, Lena Sessoms, Shirley House, Eddie McKoy, Ross Strickland, James Ervin, the Nashville Progressive Men’s Club and Elaine and Macon Robertson.

In addition to Distinguished Citizen, the Chamber will also present the 2018  Junior Achievement Award. The Junior Achievement Award is a new award that was first presented last year.

The award is presented to someone between the ages of 12 and 18 who is involved in his or her community and goes above and beyond.

The first recipient of the award, which was presented at last year’s banquet, was Samuel Smith.

This year’s event is set to be held on Thursday, March 1 at 7 p.m. at Nash Arts.

For more information on the chamber awards, call 459-4050 or visit nashvillencchamber.org.