To say that T.J. Ford left his mark on the Nanuet football

programwould be a vast understatement. A three-sport star

in football, lacrosse and basketball, T.J. earned his greatest

acclaimas themarquee player onNanuet’s 1989 undefeated,

untied and unscored-upon team, the top-ranked Class C

team in New York State that year.

T. J. was the New York State Class C Player of the Year in

’89, as well as a New York Daily News first-team All-Star.

At running back, T.J. was a threat to score any time he

touched the ball. And score he did – 27 touchdowns, in

fact, one of 13 individual school records he amassed during

his illustrious career with the Golden Knights.

Among his other records were the following:

• Single-game records for points - 30

touchdowns - 5

rushing touchdowns - 5

and rushing attempts - 33

• Single-season records for points - 165

touchdowns - 27

rushing touchdowns - 23

and rushing yards - 1,331

• Career records for points - 223

touchdowns - 37

rushing touchdowns - 29

highest average per rush - 5.9 yards

and most punt returns for touchdowns - 3

T.J. also played on defense as an outside linebacker, and

garnered two first-team All-County berths, two All-League

awards and one All-Section citation in football.

T.J. was a leader in all three sports he played, serving as

captain of the football, basketball and lacrosse teams and

playing varsity ball for three years in each sport. In

lacrosse, he was a two-time All-Section 1 midfielder who scored 31 goals and had 23 assists for the 1990 team, which

posted a 16-1 record andwas undefeated in the regular season.

He also scored 20 goals and added 26 assists in 1989.

As a point guard in basketball, T.J. was a vital contributor

to the 1989 Nanuet team that advanced to the Section 1

Class final, scoring 245 points and averaging 12.9 points

per game to merit All-Section and All-League notice. The

following year he scored 247 points, averaged 12.3 points a

game and again made All-League.

The accolades kept pouring in after the final whistle had

blown, too. T.J. was the recipient of the Jerry Leo Award

and a Black and Gold scholarship in 1990, was named a

Journal-News Scholar-Athlete of the Week, and earned

membership in the National Honor Society.

T.J. continued playing football in college at St. Cloud

(Minn.) StateUniversity, anNCAA Division II school, for

two years before suffering a severe ankle injury. He played

well enough to win freshman of the year honors in the 1990

season.He later transferred toDominicanCollege inBlauvelt

and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business

administration.

For the past five years, T.J. has been employed by Wyeth

Pharmaceuticals in the sales/marketing division. Wyeth is

the parent company of the former Lederle Laboratories in

Pearl River. T.J. worked as a territory specialist in upstate

New York for two years and is currently a specialty account

manager covering hospitals, managed care organizations

and large purchasing accounts in New York City.

He is enrolled in the company’s district manager-intraining

program.

T.J. also earned a certified medical representative

degree fromthe CertifiedMedical Representative

Institute inRoanoke,Va., and isworking toward amaster’s

in business administration from Iona College’s Hagan

School of Business.

T.J. now resides in Mahwah, just over the Rockland

border inNew Jersey. He and his wife, Deirdre, have a

1-year-old daughter, Cailey Linda.