Updated 1/12/2025 9:15 PM

TV sportscasters have been an important part of the fabric of Portland for as long as I can remember — and I can remember back quite a ways.

They are the visual conduit between sports fans and the athletes and teams we follow. Many of them have become personalities — even celebrities — and important members of the community.

With prodding from my web supervisor, I reached out to all of those who are still living and spent time behind the camera talking sports at KATU, KOIN, KGW and KPTV over the past half-century or so. This is not including current sportscasters Tyree Smith (KATU), Adam Bjaranson and Brenna Greene (KOIN), Orlando Sanchez (KGW) and Nick Krupke (KPTV).

Some of the former sportscasters stayed on a long time. Some were here for little more than a blip. Some moved on to bigger markets or came to prominence at a national level.

I spoke with 31 men and women in the aforementioned category. We will break their stories into a two-part series — dividing the ‘casters in alphabetical order — that will conclude with the second part this week.

► ◄

Colin Cowherd is an unlikely star on the national television sportscasting scene.

The host of “The Herd,” which simulcasts on FS1 and iHeart Radio and Fox Sports Radio, was raised in Grayland, a berg with a current population of 575 located on the southern Washington coast.

“I am from such a small town, I didn’t ever think it was possible,” says Cowherd in a phone conversation from his Los Angeles home on the occasion of his 61st birthday. “I knew I loved talking sports. I had a lot of people help me along the way — really good bosses, good producers. I was pretty obsessed from a very early age with wanting to be a network sportscaster. But I’ll be honest — I didn’t think it was really possible.”

Cowherd, a 1985 Eastern Washington grad, worked at KGW from 1996-2002 alongside Ron Pivo and Joe Becker.

“It was a great sports staff,” Cowherd tells me. “We had an excellent photographer, Brian Warner. Good management. Our producer, Evan Chevrier, is now a producer on ‘The Today Show.’ It was about as strong a staff as you are going to have in Portland, Oregon, for a market that size. We had really good people.”

Cowherd began his career as play-by-play voice of the Pacific Coast League Las Vegas Stars and became sports director of a TV station in the city. He spent two years working TV sports in Orlando before coming to Portland in 1996.

“I wanted to get closer to home, closer to my sister and mom, which was important to me,” he says. “It was a great time in my life. My daughter (Olivia), who now lives next to me in L.A., was born there. I still have a lot of friends there. My ex-wife Kim still lives there. My son (Jackson) is a sophomore at Pacific (in Forest Grove).”

Cowherd went to a smaller market in Portland, but was able to do both radio and TV. He had a popular weekday talk show on KFXX for most of the time he was in town.

“I wasn’t sleeping a ton, that was pretty clear,” Colin says with a laugh. “I stayed busy. But I was very fortunate. I had a good run. I have such fond memories of it.”

Cowherd recalls the 2000 Western Conference finals in which the Lakers beat the Trail Blazers in seven games.

“Probably the best NBA playoff series I was ever at,” he says. “I remember the 2001 Oregon team that finished No. 2 in the country and beat Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl. The Ducks, Beavers and Blazers were all really good when I was there. The Mariners were, too, and the Seahawks were viable. University of Portland had a great soccer program. All the teams in the Northwest were pretty darn good at the time.”

All the while, Cowherd was getting pretty good, too.

“I honed my craft in Portland,” he says. “It was a springboard for me to ESPN.”

The Mothership beckoned Cowherd in 2003 to fill a national radio spot.

“When ESPN hired me out of Portland, that was almost unheard of,” he says. “I replaced Tony Kornheiser, and there I was a Portland, Oregon, guy. That was a needle-in-a-haystack hire.”

Cowherd held the ESPN radio show until 2015, the last seven years as a simulcast shown on TV. During that time, he co-hosted “SportsNation” on ESPN2, hosted a Sunday morning ESPN TV football talk show and wrote a pair of books.

In 2015, Cowherd signed a four-year contract with Fox Sports.

“Fox started recruiting me 10 months before I left ESPN,” he says. “It has been a good fit. (Fox officials) have treated me well. My contract is up on Feb. 28. I have been offered a new contract. I am not sure what is going to happen.”

As if he weren’t busy enough, in 2020 Cowherd created a media podcast company called “The Volume.”

“Draymond Green, Shannon Sharpe and I all have podcasts on it,” he says. “We are at 38 employees and growing. It has become something. I was a small-town kid with big dreams. Never thought this all was possible.”

In 2021, Cowherd broke some ribs in a skiing accident and wound up hospitalized with an embolism.

“It probably made me healthier,” he says. “I take care of myself. I work out four or five days a week. I try to walk every other day. I lift weights every other day. I stay hydrated and move, move, move. When I can take stairs, I always do. I try to take very few elevators and escalators.”

Cowherd says he sticks close to home with his wife of 18 years, Ann.

“I am not somebody with a crazy social life,” he says. “I am not a big partier. I am a pretty simple guy. The centerpiece is my family and my job.

“I have had a lot of good fortune. I didn’t ever think I had the best voice, or was the best-looking, but I certainly worked hard. I cared and I was curious and creative. If you do something long enough, and you have a stick-to-itiveness, you will succeed. Probably my greatest asset was my willfulness. I was a dreamer from a small town. I try to be grateful and appreciative for what has been granted to me.”

► ◄

KEN ACKERMAN, KGW 1989-92, KPTV 1992-2002.

Ackerman, raised in Olympic, Wash., and a Western Washington grad, entered the Portland market after TV jobs in El Centro, Calif., Washington, N.C., and Winston-Salem, N.C. He came on at KGW at a good time, working with Eric Johnson and Joe Becker when the Blazers had put together a team that would reach the NBA Finals twice in three seasons.

“(KOIN’s) Ann Schatz and I started work the same week,” says Ackerman, 64, now living in North Palm Beach, Fla. “Those were great Blazer years during my time at KGW. But it was hectic at the station then. We didn’t have a dedicated sports photographer. Joe and I were always lobbying for it. There wasn’t a lot of emphasis on sports at the time.”

In 1992, Ackerman moved over to KPTV and spent a decade working there doing sports and feature reporting.

“I was nominated for four (Northwest) Emmys, all for features,” Ackerman says. “The best part of my career was a feature reporter.”

At the end of every newscast was a segment called “Ackerman’s World.”

“I would have some wacko story,” he says. “They sent me around the state. They would give me a credit card on Monday and I would come back on Friday with five stories.”

In 1996, Ackerman was the first host on KPTV’s “Good Day Oregon.” He stayed until 2002 when he moved to KATU and helped host the morning show there called “AM Northwest.”

Then came disaster. Ackerman underwent what was supposed to be routine surgery for an arm ailment.

“The doctor told me it would be a 25-minute procedure,” Ackerman says. He said, ‘You’ll be home at noon.’ I wake up after surgery, it’s dark outside, I’m hooked up to machines. My parents and friends are there in the hospital room, and everyone is crying. I said, ’What’s up?’ The doctor said, ‘You’re paralyzed from the neck down. We don’t know if you’ll ever walk again.’ ”

Ackerman says he was told he had a congenital defect in his neck. Later, a nurse wrote him an anonymous letter with some startling information.

“Your doctor scrubbed down, got a phone call, left and never came back,” she wrote. “The anesthesiologist told the resident (physician) to do the surgery, and he said he had never done it before.”

“He hit my spinal cord during surgery, but I was never told that,” Ackerman says. A post-op MRI at another hospital showed a bruise on the spinal cord.

Ackerman filed a lawsuit that took nine years to litigate. He says he was eventually awarded a $1.4 million judgment. “Not a lot after I paid the attorney,” he says. “My medical bills were $180,000.”

After the surgery, Ackerman was transferred to in-house rehabilitation at Good Samaritan Hospital.

He had recovered enough that he was able to get around with a walker. In the meantime, he lost his job at KATU. “Really, I lost my career,” he says. He was able to gain employment at Comcast, working a show called “Newsmakers” from 2008-15.

Ackerman underwent four more spine surgeries. Slowly over the years, his health improved, but he never recovered completely.

“I can’t use my right hand or arm,” he says. “They are painful all the time. The left side of my body is hypersensitive to touch.”

At one point, he asked his doctor about the possibility of amputation.

“He said, ’No, you would have phantom pain,’ ” Ackerman says. “I learned to live with it. I’m not complaining. I could have been paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of my life. I am happy to be alive.”

Ackerman is currently officiating basketball and working as a pro at a tennis club. He is left-handed and says he has taught himself to toss the ball with his right hand. Ken is single and has a son who is a sophomore at Texas Christian.

► ◄

BRAD ADAM, KATU 1997-2000.

The Glendale, Calif., native worked with Steve Arena and Ron Carlson at KATU.

“They split the week and I was doing weekends,” says Adam, 54. “It was my first time covering a pro team, and I got the Jail Blazers. They were ornery, but they were good. I enjoyed going down to Corvallis and Eugene to cover the Beavers and Ducks. It was all a lot of fun.”

Adam went north to Seattle in 2000 and has enjoyed a distinguished career as pre-game and post-game studio host for the Mariners ever since. He has also filled in doing Mariner play-by-play and has done play-by-play work for college football and basketball for the Pac-12 Network.

Brad and his wife of 21 years, Heidi, have three daughters — Halle, 19; Haiden, 17 and Hutton, 16. “And yes, I get their names mixed up all the time,” he says with a laugh.

► ◄

BOB AKAMIAN, KATU 1988-90.

Akamian, a member on the Portland sports media scene for nearly four decades, joined Steve Arena and Ron Carlson at KATU in the late ‘80s after working at KEZI in Eugene.

“TV newsrooms had very set roles in those days,” says Akamian, 63. “Steve anchored at 5, 6 and 11 (p.m.), Ron was the weekend anchor and I was the reporter, filling in (as anchor) whenever somebody was gone.

“I came on at the end of Mike Schuler’s reign as Blazers coach. The way the ’90 team came together under Rick Adelman was amazing. It was a fun time for all of us.”

In 1990, Akamian left for KEX radio at the same time Scott Lynn left KGW TV for KEX.

“KEX was very ambitious and wanted to do sports big-time,” Akamian says. “We carried the Blazers. For both of Scott and me, it was a good time to transition.”

Akamian stayed at KEX for five years and also called Oregon State games for Prime Sports TV, which became Root Sports. Akamian kept a relationship with the network in one manner or another until 2023. He also worked part-time with Blazer Broadcasting for 13 years and worked 23 years with Oregon State, producing coaches and magazine shows. 

Akamian segued into directing in 2015, working with Winterhawks broadcasts among other entities. He has spent the last two years free-lancing.

“Technology is what has changed everything in the industry,” Akamian says. “You still have to have creativity. You still have to create content. But technology dictates how it’s distributed and how many people you need to do it.

“The sad thing has been the devaluing of content creation. Radio has been so watered down. A lot of people who are trying to make a living in radio aren’t able to. They’re working full-time jobs so they can be on radio just a little bit.”

Except for one year living in Seattle, Akamian and wife Carol — who have two children — have lived in the Portland area since 1988.

► ◄

STEVE ARENA, KATU, 1977-92, 1994-2001.

The Linfield grad came into the business the year the Blazers won the NBA championship.

“Not a bad time to start my career,” says Arena, 68. “Those were hectic times, but also great to be a part of.”

After 15 years at KATU, most of them as sports director, Arena left to work with Jeff Sanders Promotions. In 1994, he returned to KATU and worked there for another seven years.

“My last night on the air was two weeks before 9/11,” he says.

During his second stint at KATU, Arena also worked as program director at KFXX radio for three or four years. Then in 1998, he purchased West Lake Cleaners in Lake Oswego. He expanded to a second store in West Linn in 2000. About a year and a half ago, he sold both businesses, but continues to help with the operations.

“My agreement (to the new owners) was that I would stay on as long as they want me to,” Arena says. “I didn’t go to Linfield to study to be a dry cleaner, but I’ve enjoyed running the business. I wanted to be in a situation where I could call my own shots. I’m still in full blast — about 15 hours a day. The industry requires it. The last 27 years have been hard, but hard in a good way.”

Arena and wife Jeani have been married for 44 years. They have two children and four grandchildren.

► ◄

STEVE BARTELSTEIN,  KGW, 1994-96.

Bartelstein’s short stint in Portland preceded a long run as a national presence in the broadcasting industry, and not in sports. He went from KGW to CNN as a news anchor, then at WABC and WCBS in New York City and later at the CBS affiliate in Chicago.

Bartelstein, 62, last worked in the industry in 2011 and then went in a 180-degree different direction. He attended baseball umpire school and worked in the independent pro leagues from 2013 to at least 2018. I was unable to reach “Bart,” in my mind one of the most talented sportscasters to come through Portland.

► ◄

JOE BECKER, KGW 1984-2016, KATU 2017-23.

Nobody enjoyed a longer career in Portland TV sportscasting than Becker, who spent 38 years conveying sports news to viewers. Becker took early retirement from KGW in 2016. A year later, he was hired at KATU and put in another six years in front of the camera.

“I have great memories of working with all the different people at both stations,” Becker says. “Since I retired, every once in awhile I will think back to some of the moments, some of the games, some of the people I worked with. I talked to Scott Lynn just last week. We started at KGW together 40 years ago. I liked working with him and Carl Click. I was watching TV a week or two ago and watched Colin Cowherd’s show, which brought back memories I had working with him.”

Becker, 70, worked with sports photographer Brian Warner at both stations — for 18 years at KGW and the six years at KATU.

“We worked side by side for so long,” Becker says. “He’s a great photographer and a great guy. Most of the time, your story is only as good as the video.”

There’s little doubt Becker is one of the most popular TV sportscasters to work in the city.

“I felt like I had a good connection with the fans and other viewers,” he says. “I have always enjoyed meeting people who had watched me on TV or said something about a story I had done.”

Joe and his wife of 43 years, Janice, live in Beaverton. They have two children.

► ◄

TIM BECKER, KPTV 1997-2007, KOIN 2007.

Tim Becker (no relation to Joe) was raised in Wenatchee, Wash., the son of a missionary. He graduated from Pacific Lutheran and began his professional broadcasting career in Victoria, Texas, in 1986. Becker landed the No. 3 job on the sports department staff at Seattle’s KOMO TV in 1994 and three years later moved to KPTV, where he served as sports director and anchor for a decade.

“The thing I liked most about working at KPTV was having autonomy as a sports reporter,” he says. “It was me. I had Ron Quant as sports photographer, and he was really good. When I started, priority was given to sports; our news director liked it. It was fun to be able to do those things you wanted to do without much oversight, and I mean that in a good way.

“We started up our ‘Oregon Sports Final’ Sunday night show, a half-hour that was 95 percent devoted to local sports. People still wanted their sports, even at 11 o’clock on Sunday night. That was gratifying.”

By the end of Becker’s run at KPTV, things had changed.

“When I started, we had 5 1/2 minutes for sports every night,” he says. “By the time ’07 rolled around, I had 90 seconds at the end of the 10 o’clock news.”

Becker worked for a short time doing weekend sports at KOIN while also free-lancing for Comcast Sports Northwest. By 2008, he had become a full-time news reporter at KOIN and was out of sports altogether. He stayed there until 2018.

Becker, 62, now works as strategic communications manager for the city of Vancouver. He has been married for 25 years to wife Michelle.

► ◄

CRAIG BIRNBACH, KATU, 2007-17.

Birnbach says he greatly enjoyed his time as a TV sports reporter but decided to get out of the business shortly before his seven-year-old son was born.

“I looked at it as a family decision,” he says. “One of the big reasons was because of what sports media and TV was becoming. It was about looking at the landscape of media in general and seeing where things were going and wanting to have some control. I wanted to put myself in the best position to succeed.”

Birnbach, 53, spent a couple of years as vice president/development for Special Olympics Oregon. Since 2019 he has served as executive director of communications at Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver, Wash. since 2019. Birnbach hasn’t entirely gotten out of the sports media business, however. He works with Aaron Fentress on a weekly “Blazers Focus” podcast. And for the last seven years, Birnbach has been a free-lance reporter for KPTV’s “Friday Night Lights” segment during the prep football season.

Craig and wife Kendra have one son, seven-year-old Isaac.

► ◄

BILL BOAZ, KATU, 1978-82.

A Portland native, Boaz was the weekend sports reporter for four years working with Steve Arena at KATU.

“I had Mondays and Tuesdays off. I did a lot of Trail Blazer locker room stuff, a lot of Winterhawks stuff,” he says. “I traveled more than once on the bus with the Winterhawks for the long Canadian prairie trip. I always enjoyed hockey growing up with the Buckaroos.”

After he was laid off by KATU, Boaz relocated to Seattle, becoming a stockbroker for a couple of years. Then he moved over to “the wholesale side.”

“I called on stockbrokers and financial planners and trained them on product,” Boaz says. “I worked for three different companies — J&B Realty, Boston Capital and American Skandia. Near the end, we moved to Spokane. I quit in 1995 — I was burned out.”

Boaz thought he would just take a year off of work.

“The stock market was good, so I thought, ‘Let’s make it two years,’ ” he says. “Then it was three years. And at that point I had no marketable skills. Fortunately, I’m a great saver and a pretty good investor.”

Boaz and wife Linnea moved to Arizona in 2000. They returned to Oregon to live at Eagle Crest in 2012 but went back to Arizona in 2017 and currently live in the retirement community of SaddleBrooke, Ariz.

“We try to get in as much travel as we can,” says Boaz, 72. “We just got back from South Africa. A year ago, we were in Antarctica. Linnea did the polar plunge, jumping off a boat into 28-degree water. Me? No way.”

► ◄

STAN BROCK, KOIN, 2015-18.

Brock is most well-known for his football prowess. The one-time Jesuit High and University of Colorado standout played 16 years in the NFL as an offensive lineman, starting 223 of the 234 games in his long career. Brock played for the San Diego Chargers in the 1995 Super Bowl.

After retirement in 1995, Brock had two head coaching gigs — in the Arena League with the Portland Forest Dragons (1997-99) and Los Angeles Avengers (2000-01) and in college football at Army in 2007 and ’08.

Brock had some broadcasting experience before he began at KOIN.

“Steve Arena had me do ‘Monday Night Quarterback’ after Monday night games, and I did some radio on (KFXX) with Shaun Minton for a couple of years,” Brock says.

Brock worked with Dan Christopherson, David Solano and AJ McCord during his time at KOIN. He headlined “Game On! With Stan Brock,” a half-hour Sunday night show taped in magazine format.

“At first I really liked it,” Brock says. “They didn’t ask me to be a regular sportscaster, I just got to talk about sports. That was fun. Dan really helped me, taught me how to write copy and do a show. He was very kind to me.”

Brock says the station went through management and ownership changes during his time there.

“At the end, I was ready to be done,” he says.

Brock, 66, is semi-retired.

“I work construction projects, but I’m pretty much just hanging out these days,” he says.

Stan and wife Lori live in Portland. They have four children and 12 grandchildren.

► ◄

KATY BROWN, KATU 2001-12.

Brown grew up in Pleasanton, Calif., in the east Bay Area and attended UCLA.

“I was always a big sports fan, but I had never experienced the same level of intensity as I saw in the Ducks-Beavers rivalry,” Brown says. “And coming to a city with one major pro sports team, the passion around the Blazers made it such a special environment.”

Brown started at KATU in 1997 doing weather forecasts before moving over to sports. She worked with Ron Carlson and Craig Birnbach in the sports department.

“I loved it,” Brown says. “I will aways reflect back to it as a special time in my life. I feel very fortunate to have had all of the experiences I had, for the special memories of bowl games and for the people I had the opportunity to meet.”

Since she left KATU, Brown has worked for Evanta, at first for the sports division, then for the technology side. She is currently a managing vice president leading a global team of about 80, facilitating gatherings for C-level executives, mostly in technology.

“It has been an interesting journey,” says Brown, 54. “It has been a lot of wild, that’s for sure.”

Katy and husband Troy Troftgruben have one daughter, Terra. They live in Lake Oswego.

► ◄

SCOTT BURRIDGE, KOIN, 2001-08, KATU 2008.

The Hinsdale, Ill., native followed Brian Bushlach at KOIN and worked with worked with Ed Whelan through most of his time at the station. He had worked the previous three years in Orlando.

“It was such a joyous time for me,” Burridge says. “I felt I’d made it big when I came to Portland. The Orlando station was a start-up and KOIN was an established station. Ed was very welcoming and easy to work with. He handed high school and college football to me. That was in the wheelhouse for what I wanted to do.”

Burridge says his first live shot was the first Blazers-Lakers game after the teams’ seven-game Western Conference finals series in 2000.

“Two to three weeks into the job, Oregon was in the Holiday Bowl against Oklahoma and Oregon State was ranked fourth and smoked Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl,” Burridge says. “I’m at the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, then on a plane over to the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix. I knew I had arrived. I was finally at a station that was spending some money on sports. That was incredibly exciting to me.

“I made fast friends with (newscasters) Kelley Day and Jeff Gianola. Ken Boddie became a good friend. I remember it being smooth and easy. I’m still good friends with the great sports photographer, Gary Beck. Working with him was a piece of cake. Talk about a hard-working guy, and highly skilled.”

Burridge has other memories of his time at KOIN.

“Bandon Dunes opened up a few months after I got there,” he says. “Every time they had a new course open up (KOIN management) let me go down and cover it. I caught the end of the Jail Blazer era. I remember when Qyntell Woods got pulled over for smoking pot, he didn’t have his driver’s license and handed the officer his trading card. I always walked the sidelines instead of sitting in the press box for Oregon and Oregon State football.”

After leaving KOIN, Burridge sold some real estate and did a short stint filling in for the sports department at KATU. He also spent two seasons as scout team coach for Central Catholic High football.

In 2009 he moved to his hometown of Boulder, Colorado, serving as owner and operator of an ATM business. He spent several years working for Greenhouse Scholars at his alma mater, the University of Colorado. For the last year he has worked as a property manager in Boulder.

Scott, 57, and wife Ashton have two sons and one granddaughter.

► ◄

BRIAN BUSHLACH, KOIN 1991-2001.

The Oregon State grad began his TV broadcasting career in Bend but soon got hired at KOIN.

“I worked with the ‘Big Daddy of Sports’ (Ed Whelan) and runnin’ Ann Schatz,” Bushlach says. “Gary Beck was our photographer. We had great camaraderie between all of us behind the scenes. I did weekends and tried to keep the circus running right. I was the planner. I put all the game plans together how we were going to cover stuff.

“I made so many friendships. Those friendships continue on. I vividly remember covering the Blazers in the early ‘90s, which was a dream come true. The players then were super special guys. We may never see anything like it again.”

After leaving KOIN, Bushlach did a one-year stint at KPDX/Fox, then went into private life, dabbling in the mortgage business, real estate, insurance and marketing. He has done a lot of voiceover work. Since 2006 he has worked as CEO for Feedback Media, working with Sports Business Journal and the Business Journals.

“We have been doing their podcasts across the country for almost eight years,” Bushlach says. “I have a lot of corporate clients big and small — legal and accounting firms, some Fortune 50 companies. I do some webinars, but about 90 percent of our work is podcasts. For some of the clients, I host the series. A lot of them bring in their own host and we produce it for them.”

Brian, 56, and wife Amy live in Lehi, Utah. They have a blended family that includes four daughters.

► ◄

NATE BYNUM, KATU, 2010-19.

Prior to working at KATU, Bynum spent three years at KOBI TV in Medford. After leaving KATU, Bynum worked as communications director for North America Consumer and Marketplace at Nike. It is believed he is still employed by Nike, but I couldn’t reach Bynum or anybody at Nike who could confirm.

► ◄

RON CARLSON, KATU, 1985-2007.

All but six years of Carlson’s 28-year run at KATU were spent in sports. Before joining the sports department, Carlson served as co-host (with Mary Starrett) of the station’s “Faces and Places” nightly magazine show. His time with sports coincided with that of Arena, with whom he worked for 14 years. There were plenty of highlights, Carlson says.

“Getting to cover the Blazers in the 1990 and ’92 NBA Finals was a kick,” Carlson says. “Being able to go to MLB spring training and a couple of bowl games, covering the Seahawks — those were a lot of fun.

“Meeting a lot of great high school coaches, some of the guys who were really great with kids, left an impression on me. And getting to be creative with video. … I always enjoyed writing. It was fun writing some goofy stuff.”

Carlson had a segment during KATU’s Friday night prep football program called “Da Kan.” Carlson would place a gross can of food in front of high school players, who had volunteered to eat it on camera.

“Watching those linemen eat a can of snake meat, octopus or even worse — and we didn’t have those kids sign a waiver or anything,” he says with a laugh.

The zenith for Carlson came in a one-on-one interview in Los Angeles with legendary UCLA coach John Wooden.

“I had always heard he was a great guy,” Carlson says. “He welcomed me into his apartment like I was a long-lost son. It was amazing.”

Carlson also enjoyed an interview with former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda.

Says Carlson: “Tommy told me, ‘I’ve learned to quit complaining. Seventy percent of the people don’t care. The other 30 percent are glad I have the problem.’ ”

Since 1982, Carlson has had an automobile dealer’s license. He still owns and operates Parkview Motor Company. After leaving KATU, he went on staff at Cedar Mill Bible Church, serving 10 1/2 years as a pastor to men. Carlson, working with daughter Anna, has served as JV girls soccer coach at Sunset High for 15 years.

Ron and wife Lin, who live in Helvetia, have four children, 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

► ◄

DAN CHRISTOPHERSON, KPTV 1993-2002, KOIN from 2006-15.

Christopherson had a pair of nine-year stints as a TV sportscaster in the Portland market.

(Dan and I go way back. I covered him in 1982-83 when he was a starting guard on the Mountain View high basketball team in Vancouver, Wash.)

The University of Portland graduate worked as sports anchor in southern Oregon for five years before landing a job at KPTV. At first, Christopherson did some work in the newsroom but then moved into a role as weekend sports anchor, working with Mike O’Brien on the sports staff. After O’Brien left, Tim Becker moved in and worked with Christopherson.

In 2002 Dan left to do some grant-writing for a local non-profit. In 2006, KOIN hired him as weekend sports anchor. The next year, Ed Whelan departed.

“I was the only full-time sportscaster for the next eight years,” Christopherson says. “Tim Becker came in to do sports for a couple of nights a week for a short time, but then they hired him to do news full-time. After that, it was just me in sports.”

Christopherson, 59, laments the demise of the sports report on television news. He recalls when the powers-that-be at KOIN gave the edict, ‘You’ll do sports five nights (a week), and then we won’t have anything unless there is a big event.’ ”

“They decided it wasn’t necessary to have sports on every newscast,” he says. “That was the beginning of it. Things have changed so much.”

Like Katy Brown, Christopherson went to work for Evanta, helping stage executive events for C-level business leaders from 2015-21. Then he assumed his current position of director of public affairs, marketing and external web services at his alma mater.

“It was my dream at UP to become a TV sports anchor, and I was able to do that and have a career,” Christopherson says. “Then part of me wanted to come back (to UP) and do my part in communications, to help tell our story and talk about how great this place is. Now I’m doing my part to help our students fulfill their dreams. It’s fulfilling for me to do this work.”

Dan and wife Lisa celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on Tuesday. They have two children and live in Beaverton.

► ◄

Readers: what are your thoughts? I would love to hear them in the comments below. On the comments entry screen, only your name is required, your email address and website are optional, and may be left blank.

Follow me on X (formerly Twitter).

Like me on Facebook.

Find me on Instagram.

Be sure to sign up for my emails.