Samford University Athletics

Bill Lankford was a basketball standout at Samford (then Howard College) from 1954-57. He shares the school record for scoring average in a season, averaging 23.4 points per game during the 1956-57 season. The 631 total points he scored during that season rank third in school history for a single season. For his career, he ranks fifth in program history with an impressive 1,621 career points. Following his Samford career, Lankford became a highly successful high school and junior college basketball coach. His 1980 Jefferson State Community College team finished second in the National Junior College Championship Tournament in Hutchison, Kansas. He finished his coaching career with 718 wins and 402 losses. He was inducted into the Alabama Community College Conference Hall of Fame in 1990.