Roy Hord

Roy served as vice president and general manager of Riverside International Raceway for 18 years and was an active member of the Riverside sports community.

He helped RIR become one of the top racing venues in the country as it hosted NASCAR and Indy Car events and brought much attention to the city. In his duties at the facilities he was responsible for track operations, personnel and revenue.

Roy served as president of the YMCA in 1981-82 and was recipient of the YMCA’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award. He also played a prominent role in founding the Tiger Backers, a booster club for the Riverside City College football team. Roy was the primary mover in the development of the Evans Sports Complex. He was also active in many other civic groups.

Roy had quite an athletic background himself. At 6-foot-6, he was known as the ‘Gentle Giant.’ He was an All-America guard and tackle on Duke University’s football team in 1956 and ’57. He played on two Rose Bowl teams, as Duke defeated Nebraska in 1955 and lost to Oklahoma in 1958. He was inducted into the Duke University Hall of Fame in 2001.

He earned All-Europe athletic honors in football, basketball and baseball while he served in the U.S. Army in Germany from 1958-60. He played for Air Force teams even though he was in the Army. He played professional football for the Los Angeles Rams (1957-59), Philadelphia Eagles (1960-61) and New York Jets (1962).

Roy and his wife, Jo, raised three sons in Riverside. He worked for Riverside County following his career at the raceway and lived in Riverside for more than three decades. He died in October 2002.

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