Fifty years ago, the Blazers got it all started with a victory over the Cavs …

Portland Trail Blazers logo 1970-1990

Updated 10/12/2020 5:00 PM

Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the first regular-season game ever played by the Trail Blazers.

It was also the first professional game for rookie guard Geoff Petrie, one of the best players in franchise history and later the club’s general manager. And it was the first NBA game called by Bill Schonely, who was to become a legend and perhaps the most popular figure ever with the Blazers.

The date was Oct. 16, 1970. Portland beat fellow expansion club Cleveland 115-112 before a crowd of 4,723 at Memorial Coliseum.

Jim Barnett (courtesy of Rich Patterson)

“I thought it was about 3,000,” says Jim Barnett, who led the Blazers in scoring on that glorious night with 31 points. “But it was a different world then.”

The Blazers outscored the Cavaliers 34-26 in the fourth quarter in the come-from-behind victory. Petrie contributed 21 points and eight rebounds, center Leroy Ellis collected 15 points and 22 rebounds and Stan McKenzie had 19 points and Ed Manning 15 points and 10 boards off the bench for Portland. Starting guard Rick Adelman — later to be the highly successful coach of the Blazers — managed six points on 1-for-8 shooting with one assist in 23 minutes.

Guard John Warren led Cleveland with 23 points, playing all 48 minutes. Johnny Egan, McCoy McLemore, Bingo Smith, Luther Rackley, and Len Chappell were other significant Cavaliers.

Portland shot only .416 from the field but hit 31 of 43 at the foul line to Cleveland’s 16 for 27.

“The guys made their free throws that day,” says Schonely, 91, who still serves as broadcaster emeritus and ambassador for the Blazers. “The governor (Tom McCall) was there. The commissioner (Walter Kennedy) was there. It was quite a day. Nobody knew what we were going to have, but it was a good way to start.”

Portland, Cleveland, and the Buffalo Braves all joined the NBA the same season. The league did them a favor by scheduling them to play each other a dozen times. The Blazers, who finished the season 29-53, went 10-2 against the Cavaliers and 6-6 against the Braves. Portland was 13-45 in games against the rest of the league.

“Maybe we weren’t that good, but you have to say we were better than Cleveland,” muses Petrie, 72, who is at his home near Sacramento recuperating from hip surgery.

“We had to make six trips to Buffalo that winter,” Barnett says. “I saw more snow than I’d seen in my life.”

Barnett was very good in that initial game, sinking 10 of 18 shots from the field and 11 of 13 from the foul line. The 6-4 guard from Oregon, who was beginning his fifth NBA season, had spent the previous three years with the San Diego Rockets. He would go on to play 11 NBA campaigns, but his best season by far was in Portland, with whom he averaged 18.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.1 assists. He was second on the team in scoring behind only Petrie at 24.9.

“I’d gotten better each year,” says Barnett, 76, for the past 35 years a TV or radio analyst for the Golden State Warriors. “I didn’t have a guaranteed contract — very few of us did — but I knew the Blazers had traded for me.

“I was very excited. I was kind of a hometown boy. My wife was from Portland. I had a lot of friends living there. If I had to get traded, that was the best team to go to — with a brand new team where I’d have a green light to shoot and score. By that time, I’d figured out how to play. It was a very good time in my life. I was 26 years old. Hell, I had the world by the balls.”

Geoff Petrie guarded by Jerry “The Logo” West (courtesy of Rich Patterson)

In due time, so did Petrie. The Blazers had made the 6-5 guard from Princeton the eighth pick of the 1970 draft.

“I was a surprise pick that high,” Petrie says. “There weren’t a lot of believers I was going to be any good.”

Petrie fooled the doubters, earning co-Rookie of the Year honors (with Boston’s Dave Cowens) while averaging 24.9 points per game — the most points ever by a Blazer rookie, even without the 3-point shot. And Petrie had the range to hit a bundle from beyond today’s arc.

In his first test against the Cavs, Petrie made 9 of 24 field-goal attempts.

“He got his shots up,” Barnett says with a chuckle. “I’ll have to kid him about that next time I see him.

“Geoff was much better in the second half of the season. He became the star of our team. He was the most talented player the Blazers had, even as a rookie. But it took him a few games to warm up.”

Not too many. In Portland’s fifth game of the season, a 118-115 loss to the Warriors, Petrie scored 39 points. In the next game, a 131-116 setback against the Bulls, he went for 26 points. The next game, a 119-108 win over Buffalo, Petrie tallied 27.

In six seasons with the Blazers, Petrie would average 21.9 points and play in two All-Star games. A knee injury cut his career short at age 28 in 1976. He never played another NBA game. Barnett says if the injury hadn’t happened, Petrie would have gone on to have a Hall-of-Fame career.

“During training camp (his rookie season), I took Geoff under my wing a little bit,” says Barnett, who is spending the fall living in Charlotte with his girlfriend. “He was pretty shy and quiet. I kept calling him ‘Jerry’ but didn’t explain why. It took him three days to say, ‘By the way, it’s Geoff, not Jerry.’ I told him, ‘I know that; you’re going to be the next Jerry West.’

“You could see greatness in him. He was so strong and he had one hell of a jump shot. I could see that talent. He was ready for the NBA right away.”

Petrie says he has never forgotten the feeling of putting on an NBA uniform for the first time in a counting game that night against the Cavs.

“There was such an excitement of being able to go out there, especially with a new franchise in the league, and knowing I was going to play a fair amount of minutes,” he says. “(Coach) Rolland Todd’s free-wheeling style of play was a good fit for me and the type of players we had that year.”

That was true even though Petrie got only two points for each long bomb instead of three.

“I used to shoot some long shots in college,” he says. “(Coach) Pete Carril would say, ‘What the heck are you doing?’ Some of them went in, and he wouldn’t be so mad.”

Petrie laughs when told he grabbed eight rebounds in the opener.

“That’s why I got my nickname,” he says. “El Leap-o.”

It was also the NBA debut for Schonely, who had come to Portland after working 15 years in Seattle, the final one doing play-by-play for the fledgling Seattle Pilots of the American League. Most of Schonely’s work had been done calling hockey and baseball.

“I had a little tickle in my tummy that night, that’s for sure, hoping the broadcast would go right,” says the man who came to be known as “The Schonz.” “The Cavaliers were led by ‘Wrong-way John’ Warren. One night in Cleveland that season, he went the other way and scored two points for us.

“Our guys were able to squeak out a victory. It was a fun night.”

Petrie had remembered Warren from his college days at St. John’s.

“My junior year at Princeton, we won the Ivy League championship,” Petrie says. “We played St. John’s in the NCAA Tournament, and they beat us.”

Schonely recalls a “loud” ensemble worn by Cleveland coach Bill Fitch that night.

“Later that season, I had Bill on my post-game show,” Schonely says. “He told me he never wore that suit again.”

Bill Schonely (courtesy of Rich Patterson)

Schonely used his pet phrase, “Rip City!,” for the first time that season after a Barnett howitzer as the shot clock expired in a game against the Lakers. The phrase eventually took on a life of its own, becoming synonymous with the franchise and the city of Portland throughout the NBA and even the world.

“I was on a tear and took a long shot right in front of Schonely,” Barnett says. “He came out with ‘Rip City!,” and it stuck. We still lost the game, but I’m proud to say that’s the thing I’m most remembered for.”

Barnett fell out of favor with Todd the second half of the season and was dealt to the Warriors after the season.

“Our last game was in Cleveland,” Barnett says. “I was traded the next day to Golden State. But I’d gone to Aspen, Colorado, straight from Cleveland to spend a few days with a good high school buddy of mine. The Blazers couldn’t reach me, and they were panicked because they wanted to announce the trade but couldn’t find me. It was held up for three days.”

Schonely recalls that first Blazer season with much fondness.

Inaugural season team photo (courtesy of Rich Patterson)

“It was a decent group of players,” he says. “We won only won 29 games, but in most of the games, we were competitive — led by Mr. Petrie. Geoff was sensational right off the bat. We knew he was going to be awesome. He was that entire year. He couldn’t miss.

“Leroy was one of the better centers in the league and Barney was a good player. A flake, kind of loosey-goosey, but he could score points.”

Team autographs from the first season, including future Blazers head coach Rick Adelman (courtesy of Rich Patterson)

All the Blazer players came to know Schonely well that first season.

“The traveling party was so small back then,” Petrie says. “Everybody was on the same plane, staying in the same hotel. Everybody knew ‘The Schonz.’ He warmed up to everybody. He was living in Lake Oswego. We used to go out there and have little get-togethers at his place every once in awhile.”

“Bill was a very friendly guy,” Barnett says. “He was part of the team. Baseball was my favorite sport growing up. I was a big Cardinals fan. We talked some baseball that year.”

The Blazers averaged 6,010 for 40 home games that season.

“We drew between 3,000 and 5,000 unless we were playing the Knicks or the Lakers,” Barnett says. “We’d sell out those games. We had to sell professional basketball to the people of Oregon. We had to stir up some interest.

“But I tell you what, I loved it. I had a good year and we won our fair share of games. Portland is such a great city. I thought I’d maybe finish my career there, but that did not come to pass. If I were going to be there only one year, I’m glad it was for the inaugural season. To help start that franchise like that was very gratifying.”

Petrie wound up spending 15 years with the Blazers as a player, coach, front-office executive, and even two seasons as radio analyst alongside Schonely.

“That first season was so memorable,” Petrie says. “It’s great to have been part of what has become a great story in the NBA.”

It all started off with a victory some 50 years ago.

“When it was over, all of us were glad we could breathe a sigh of relief,” Schonely says. “Our first season was underway. We were officially a member of the NBA, and that was great.”

Readers: what are your thoughts on the Blazers? When do you think next season will start? Do you think they will have fans in stands once the season starts? Share your comments below.

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