Brookdale holds community event featuring Phil Ford
By Brandon Davis
Published in News on April 22, 2017 11:02 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
University of North Carolina basketball fans Freddie, Lawson, 9, and Trey, 11, Adams get memorabilia signed by former Tar Heel basketball star Phil Ford during a community day hosted by Brookdale Assisted Living on Berkeley Boulevard Saturday.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Adam Combs, right, gets an autograph from Phil Ford on a photograph of the two of them from 20 years ago during a community day at Brookdale Assisted Living Saturday. The photo was taken while Combs' sister, Victoria Combs, also pictured, was having surgery as a baby
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Pictured is the autographed photo of Adam Combs with Phil Ford from 20 years ago.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Former basketball star Phil Ford smiles during an autograph signing Saturday at Brookdale Assisted Living on Berkeley Boulevard. The facility hopes its community day brings its residents closer to the people of Goldsboro
Adam Combs slid a familiar picture on a table to former University of North Carolina Tar Heels point guard Phil Ford.
Ford stared closely and was reminded of what he looked like 21 years ago.
"I'm seeing me more as a man (in pictures) with young boys and girls," Ford said.
He played the point guard position for the Tar Heels from 1974 to 1978, but Saturday he visited the Brookdale Berkeley Boulevard Senior Living Solutions to sign autographs for residents and visitors for Brookdale's open house event.
Combs, 25, asked Ford if they could recreate the photo -- and the two posed beside each other again.
"It's pretty incredible," Combs said. "I've always been a big Carolina fan."
He said his sister, Victoria Combs, was having hernia surgery at 6-weeks-old at the university's medical center when their father, Keith Combs, took Adam to the Dean E. Smith Center to meet Ford.
"He got to go out and party with Phil Ford, and I had to stay in a hospital room," Victoria said.
Ford continued to sign autographs as fans lined out the door of the activity center.
Freddie Adams stood with his sons Trey, 11, and Lawson, 9, as the three watched Ford sign Lawson's Tar Heel basketball.
"These guys don't remember when you played for Carolina, but I do," Adams said to Ford.
Lawson said he was kind of nervous meeting Ford, but he said he will place his newly signed basketball in a glass case in his room.
Trey said he was nervous, but he surprised his father with something else.
"I knew who he was," Trey said.
Emily Tucker, 2014 Miss Goldsboro and Brookdale's executive director of marketing and sales, met Ford three years ago when the two served with outreach programs for children, but Tucker said she did not know who he was.
"I had no idea who he was for about six months, but we've been friends ever since," she said.
Tucker invited him to Brookdale three months ago, and she said he was excited to help get the word out about Brookdale.
She said more than 100 people visited Brookdale, located at 1800 Berkeley Blvd., from 1 until 3:30 p.m. to meet Ford and learn more about the senior living center.
"I wanted to generate a lot of turnout," she said. "Because when people think of assisted living, they think negative, so my thought process was to bring in the community so they can see Brookdale is much more than the stigma they have of assisted living."
Tucker said vendors arrived from Wayne Memorial Hospital, Community Home and Hospice, Willow Creek Nursing and Rehabilitation and more such as insurance and financial agencies to tell people about different health care options and support the open house event.
As vendors spoke to people in Brookdale's dining area, Ford signed more autographs and posed for more photos.
"You don't know what it means to me to be asked to come spend some time with our senior citizens," Ford said. "Sometimes they are looked at as a forgotten generation."
"It's amazing how much they know about ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) basketball."
One resident of Brookdale remembers all about watching Ford play for his favorite team and conference.
Retired Air Force Col. Richard Manley, who served at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base after retirement, went back to Brookdale's lobby after seeing Ford 40 years later.
"I used to watch him play, and I almost had a heart attack," Manley said.
"He was a good player, and he could handle the ball."