Kerry Eggers has been writing sports for Portland newspapers since 1975. He worked for the Oregon Journal from 1975-82, at The Oregonian from 1982-2000 and at the Portland Tribune from 2001-2020. Eggers is a six-time the National Sports Media Association’s Oregon Sportswriter of the Year, winning in 1981, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2011 and 2018.
Eggers is the oldest of three sons to John Eggers, who served as sports information director at Oregon State from 1952-80. John’s publicity campaign helped OSU quarterback Terry Baker win the Heisman Trophy Award in 1962, making him the first recipient on the West Coast.
Kerry attended Corvallis High School, graduating in 1971. He was an all-league defensive end on a Spartan team that won the state AAA football championship during his senior season in 1970. Eggers was a member of the same graduating class and a teammate on the school’s varsity football and basketball teams with the likes of Mike Riley, Donny Reynolds, Gary Beck and Jerry Hackenbruck.
Eggers graduated from Oregon State with honors in 1975 and was a member of Blue Key, the senior men’s honorary. He served as sports editor, managing editor and editor of the school newspaper, The Daily Barometer.
Through his career, Eggers covered a variety of major events, including two Summer Olympic Games, four Super Bowls, a World Series, two major-league All-Star Games, five College World Series, two national championship football games, three Davis Cup ties, a golf U.S. Open, a Pro Bowl, six track and field Olympic trials and many NBA Finals and NBA All-Star games.
Eggers is past president of Track & Field Writers of America and recipient of the Jesse Abrahamson Award as the nation’s top track and field writer. In 2014, he was honored with the “DNA Award” — recognizing “extraordinary passion and dedication to sport in Oregon” — at the Oregon Sports Awards.
He has written eight books: Blazers Profiles (1991), Against the World (1993, with co-author Dwight Jaynes), Wherever You May Be: The Bill Schonely Story (1999), Clyde “The Glide” Drexler: My Life in Basketball (2004), Oregon State University Football Vault (2009), The Civil War Rivalry: Oregon vs. Oregon State (2014) and Jail Blazers: How the Portland Trail Blazers Became the Bad Boys of Basketball (2018). His latest book, “Overcoming the Odds: How Jerome Kersey Blazed a Trail from Virginia to the NBA” — will be released in late September 2021. You can pre-order the book here.
