Clyde’s appearance at Dick’s grand opening: Charming, accommodating, gracious and grateful

Clyde and the scribe who helped him write his memoir

I arrive at the brand new Dick’s Sporting Goods store at Jantzen Beach at 4:45 p.m. on Friday and the line in the store is already forming.

As part of the grand opening celebration, Clyde Drexler is meeting fans and signing autographs from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

It has been almost 30 years since the man I consider the greatest player in Trail Blazer history wore a Portland No. 22 jersey in action.

For 11 1/2 years, the 6-7 wing defied gravity and helped put the Blazers on the map in the NBA.

Drexler led them to the NBA Finals in 1990 and ’92, was runner-up to Michael Jordan for the league’s Most Valuable Player Award in ’92 and was an eight-time All-Star during his time in Portland. He was also a member of the original “Dream Team” that won gold at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.

After a mid-season trade to Houston, Clyde teamed with Hakeem Olajuwon to win the NBA championship in ’95. He retired in 1998 and in 2004 was selected for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, the same year the autobiography we co-authored, “Clyde the Glide,” was published.

During the months after Clyde’s book was released, we did a series of book-signings in the state of Oregon. I was struck by the ease with which he interacted with fans. He was gracious and communicative, which is not always the case with sports greats, who sometimes act entitled and cooperate only grudgingly in interactions with those who, in effect, pay their salaries.

Clyde was affable and accommodating as he signed autographs, took photos and kibitzed with fans

Drexler lived in Portland for many years, even holding onto his home in Dunthorpe for several years before selling sometime in the early 2000s. He grew up in Houston and it has been his place of residence since the trade to the Rockets, though he certainly considers Portland his second home.

Clyde is 62 now, the father of four children and 10 years into the marriage to his second wife, Tonya. His oldest daughter Erica lives in Portland and works as a child psychologist. Ironically, she is in Houston this weekend, and Clyde said Friday they intended to get together once he arrived back home.

Drexler looks in excellent shape, close to his playing weight of 235 during his heyday in Portland. He says his workout schedule is irregular these days but plays golf and tennis each about once a week.

Clyde has done a few grand openings for Dick’s Sporting Goods stores in the Houston area and was all too happy to take part in the one at Jantzen Beach. There is little doubt he is still revered by those in Portland who are middle-aged on up and can remember the glory years of the early ‘90s.

Clyde Drexler was back in Portland Friday to greet fans and help Dick’s Sporting Good celebrate its grand opening at Jantzen Beach

Soon after I arrive, store manager Melissa Snelling tells me that by the store’s opening at 9 a.m., 100 people were in line to receive bracelets that guaranteed them a spot in line for an autograph nine hours later. The first two in line — Brandon Bishop and Blazer super fan Mika Tyler — got there at 5 a.m.

Store manager Melissa Snelling fashions a “Clyde the Glide” jacket

A phalanx of employees are scattered through Dick’s Sporting Goods’ spacious, state-of-the-art new facility. I suspect many of them volunteered for service just to catch a glimpse of or get a photo taken with Clyde, who was to fly in from Portland that morning.

Snelling delivers a chair and employee Jamie Mechum offers a bottle of water as we wait out Drexler’s arrival. The line is lengthy when a rumble is heard near the back of the store. Clyde is in the house.

At 6:15 p.m., the man of the hour walks to a table near the front of the store, greeting fans with a smile and a few words along the way.

The initial idea by event organizers is for Clyde to sign only the 5-by-7 cards with his photo distributed to all by Dick’s in order to keep the long line moving and get everyone taken care of. He will take photos, but only with fans standing in front of the signing table.

That pretty much goes out the window when the affable Drexler offers to sign just about anything and everything. It works out in the company’s favor in one regard; dozens of basketballs, sold in-store at $50 a pop, become the object of Clyde’s signature.

Over 90 minutes, he signs T-shirts, caps, posters, banners and every type of trading card imaginable. He signs a Rip City Magazine cover, a 1992 Tournament of the Americas program, a 1993 Gentleman’s Quarterly spread, the June 1992 Sports Illustrated cover of Drexler and Jordan squaring off in the NBA Finals and several boxes of his commemorative edition of Wheatie’s (for which I provided the script on the back).

Every fan is greeted with a smile and a few words of chit chat. Virtually every fan gets a photo with him, most of them behind the table next to him at his invitation. First up is Bishop, who tells Clyde his arrival time.

“Did you say 5 a.m.?” Clyde asks. “I was up, but I was in another state at that time.”

Next is Tyler.

“You have been on my bucket list to meet,” she says. “I go to all the Blazer games. I travel to some away games.”

“You’re a trooper,” Clyde responds. “You gotta be tortured here lately, though. We gotta do better. It’s hard on all of us.”

A middle-aged man looks starstruck.

“Good to see you, Mr. Drexler,” he says politely. “Thanks for coming.”

“You’re quite welcome,” Clyde says as he signs. “I am delighted to be here.”

A teenage girl comes along, wearing the look of an athlete.

“How is your jumper?” Clyde asks.

“Not bad,” she says.

“I always say, ‘The more you practice, the luckier you get,’ ” he says. It is a line Clyde is to use several times over the course of the next 90 minutes.

A middle-aged woman tells him, “You are the pride of Portland.”

“I’m proud to have you say that,” Clyde beams.

A young man says, “It is such an honor to meet you.”

“My pleasure,” Clyde says. “You having a good day?”

“Couldn’t get any better,” the young man says.

A man with a 1990 NBA Finals shirt comes along.

“Love that shirt,” Clyde says. “Some of the best memories ever. We were all young back then.”

Two young brothers, probably pre-teens, shyly ask for an autograph.

“Which of you has the best jump shot?” Clyde asks.

The youngest says, “Out of the two of us? Me.”

The oldest boy just smiles and shakes his head.

“Well, keep working on it, guys,” Clyde says. “You can do whatever you want to do if you put your mind to it. It takes work, though.”

“I can’t exactly dunk now,” the older boy says.

“Well, when I was your age, I couldn’t, either,” Clyde says. “If that’s a goal, you start jumping rope, get some ankle weights, get yourself stronger.”

A man probably in his late 40’s asks, “Which was more fulfilling, an NBA championship or a gold medal?”

“Both,” Clyde answers. “They’re equally important, and very hard to get.”

“I still think the ’92 Dream team was our greatest (Olympic) team ever,” the man tells him.

“By far,” Clyde says. “But I’m biased.”

A stocky youngster gets to the front of the line. When Clyde asks what sports he plays, the youngster says, “Some basketball, but also football.”

“You can do both,” Clyde says. “Once you get a little bit older, you can figure out which one you’re best at. That’s what I did.”

Clyde asks a teenage girl to show him her jump shot. She delivers an imaginary shot with good form.

“Keep up the good work,” he says. “You never know what you can accomplish. Best of luck in your games.”

An older gentleman gets to the front of the line with a big smile.

“I’m gonna faint,” he says. Then he tells Clyde, “Years ago, you went into the Old Holland Cookie Company. You gave my mom an autograph on a napkin.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Clyde says (as I stifle a chuckle).

“My mom is 88 years old today, and still eating cookies,” the man says. “I want to say thank you, sir. You’re looking good. And I’m gonna have my hair done like yours.”

“Your shampoo bill will be nothing,” Clyde cracks.

A man probably 40 says, “I appreciate what you did for the city. You were the star of my basketball world growing up.”

“The city was rocking back then,” Clyde says. “We had a lot of fun on the basketball court.”

A man wearing a Rockets jersey says the last time he was in Houston, he looked for Clyde’s restaurant. He is referring to “Drexler’s Bar-B-Que,” run for many years by Clyde’s mother, Eunice Drexler.

“We have only one left, on the campus at the University of Houston,” Clyde says. “My mom retired in 2006, She said, ‘I’m done.’ ”

Another man asks about Larry Bird.

“Larry was awesome,” Clyde says.

“Did he trash-talk you?”

“He always trash talked everybody,” Clyde says. “But he got it back, too.”

“From you?”

“Oh, you know it,” Clyde says. “I’d say, ‘Larry, you’re right. I cannot guard you. But you have no chance of ever guarding me.’ ”

Clyde signs one of those Wheatie’s boxes issued more than 30 years ago, adding with a grin, “I wouldn’t advise you to eat that cereal now.”

A man in his 50’s tells his son, “That’s Clyde the Glide. He could fly over the court.”

“Believe everything he says,” Clyde cracks.

The man talks about how good the early ‘90s Blazer teams were.

“They never expected a small market to do anything,” Clyde says. “I had great teammates.”

As they turn to leave, he says, “Pleasure to meet you both. It is good to be home.”

A woman says, “You are the reason I am a Blazer fan. We moved to Portland in 1991. We had a cardboard cutout of you guarding our front door. Thank you for everything you did for the Blazers.”

Clyde asks the age of her sons. They are 13.

“At that age, I was a work in progress,” he says, telling the boys, “Keep working. You can do it.”

An older gentleman says, “Who is the hardest-working teammate you ever had?”

“Probably Buck Williams,” Clyde says. “Buck was blue-collar. Came to work every night. But everybody worked hard, trust me. You don’t get to the NBA if you don’t work hard.”

“One time, you and Buck were camping at Olallie Lake with your kids,” the man says. “You took our camping spot.”

“Buck did that,” Clyde says with a smile. “It wasn’t me. He said, ‘I got the perfect spot.’ ”

Later, Clyde confirms the man’s account to me.

“Only time I have ever been camping in my life,” he says. “We stayed two days. It was about a day and a half too long.”

Finally the line ends and the party is over. I tell Clyde he seemed to genuinely enjoy the event, just as he did during the book tour nearly three decades ago.

“I did enjoy this tonight,” he says. “The fans are always so great, all around the country, but certainly in Portland. So gracious and so nice. It is truly a blessing and an honor to still be appreciated after all these years.”

It was also a chance, I offer, to relive some of the best moments of his illustrious career.

“And to me, it is like a lifetime ago,” he says. “I look at those pictures and I go, ‘Who was that young guy with all that hair, who could jump and run so fast?’

“But the memories are awesome. It continues to show that if you do good work, it will stand the test of time.”

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