My Favorite Blazers: Larry Steele
Former Trail Blazers Larry Steele has been a member of the Portland community for more than a half-century
(Editor’s note: My first season covering the Trail Blazers was 1989-90. Much time has passed, and many players and coaches have been members of the organization since then. In this space I recognize some of the players I have most enjoyed getting to know.)
Through the years, there have been a number of Blazers who have been as important for being members of the community as they were players. Jerome Kersey, Terry Porter, Chris Dudley and Damian Lillard come to mind.
Larry Steele is a worthy addition to that group.
Steele came to Portland as a third-round draft pick out of Kentucky and was a rookie in 1971-72, the Blazers’ second season in the NBA. He retired in 1980, having played his entire nine-year career in Portland. In the franchise’s 54-year history, no player has spent his entire career with the Blazers while playing as many seasons as Steele.
The 6-5 swing man is most well-known as a key component for the 1976-77 championship team, an important, steady and versatile piece off the bench for Coach Jack Ramsay. Through his career, Steele averaged 8.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals in 24.2 minutes a game.
After retirement, Steele never left Oregon. For several years, he served as Bill Schonely’s radio analyst and worked for Jon Spoelstra as the club’s marketing manager. His three children — Ryan, Kari and Kyle — grew up in the area and attended Lake Oswego High. From 1987-94, Steele served as head coach at the University of Portland. For 38 years, he has operated the Larry Steele Basketball Camp in Vernonia.
“Portland became home very quickly when I first came out here in 1971,” Steele, now 75, told me over lunch recently. “It is such a beautiful place to live, with the ocean and the mountains and all the natural beauty. And that is not discounting the great people who support basketball in our state.”
The average NBA player has a bit of a nomadic existence. Not Steele.
Steele had a solid jump shot, but was known as the “Man of Steal” during his time with the Blazers. He led the NBA in steals
“I have so much gratitude for the organization, especially Harry Glickman and Stu Inman,” says Steele, referencing the team’s first general manager and director of player personnel. “Stu was the primary reason I got drafted by the Blazers and got the first year of my contract guaranteed.
“To be able to play here and enjoy the Northwest and have all my kids go to the same school in Lake Oswego from kindergarten to senior year of high school — that doesn’t happen unless you get to stay with one team. It is very unusual.”
Steele pauses, then smiles.
“I like to joke about this, but it is basically true,” he says. “They kept me around because I was very cheap.”
Character had something to do with it, too. I consider Steele one of the finest people among the former Blazers I have gotten to know. He is humble, down to earth and congenial, a local celebrity without acting like a big shot. That’s my kind of guy.
Steele is an Indiana native and a member of the state’s Basketball Hall of Fame. He played for the legendary Adolph Rupp at Kentucky; during Steele’s junior year, the Wildcats went 26-2 and were ranked No 1 in the final AP poll but were upset by Jacksonville in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight.
Steele came to Portland when the Blazers were in their embryonic stages. He grew as a player as the team progressed to eventually become the best in the NBA. He had a nice standstill jumper — his career field-goal percentage was .483 — but his biggest contribution was that he could fill so many roles.
His greatest career thrill, of course, was playing on the championship team. Individual accomplishments matter, too. He led the NBA in steals at 2.68 per game in 1973-74, the first season in which they were an official statistic.
“That is an indication of the way I played defense,” he says.
In a game against the Lakers in 1974, Steele totaled 12 points, 11 rebounds, 10 steals and nine assists, falling one assist shy of a quadruple-double. Four players in NBA history have achieved a quadruple-double — Nate Thurmond, David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon and Alvin Robertson. The only one doing it with steals was Alvin Robertson.
“Those are some pretty big names,” Steele says. “That showed that I could do a little bit of everything.”
In 1981, the Blazers retired Steele’s No. 15 jersey.
“That was phenomenal,” he says. “I am grateful to the organization for doing that.”
Nearly a half-century after the championship season, Steele looks back with fondness at the way the Blazers played the game. Their defense was solid, but it was on offense where they excelled. They averaged 111.7 points, third-best in the league, and had an offensive rating of 103.2 (second). In an era before the 3-point shot, they fired at a .481 clip from the field.
Steele, shooting over Hall of Fame forward Rick Barry
“It was a different style of basketball,” Steele says. “Not that we didn’t call plays once in awhile, but we had a free-flowing offense. We made a lot of our own decisions on the court. We were in our offense as soon as the other team scored or we got a rebound. Before you knew it, we were downcourt running our offense. We had great motion. We would dictate our passes and our cuts based on what the defense gave us. I don’t think that happens that often now. So much of it today is analytics.
“We had a basic concept of how we wanted to play and at what pace, and we made decisions from that. We had a lot of ball and player movement, and we were a really good passing team. Bill (Walton) was one of the greatest passing centers of all time, but we had a lot of good passers on that team. Our style of play and our substitution from position to position allowed us to play such consistent basketball. The best five players started, but the five coming off the bench were pretty good, too.”
The Blazers added center Tom Owens to the mix and were an even greater force the next season, going 50-10 through 60 games before injuries sunk the ship. The Blazers stumbled to the end of the regular season, losing 14 of their last 20 games, and then fell to eventual NBA champion Seattle in the first round of the playoffs.
Says Steele: “Any of the guys playing then will tell you, the championship team was very good. But the next year, if it weren’t for the injuries, we would have been a dynasty.”
Life is good these days for Steele. He and partner Autumn Rose live in Beaverton. Larry has six grandchildren — five girls and one boy. He has spent much time watching granddaughter Ally Schimel play basketball this season.
Pickleball has become Steele’s latest passion
Schimel is a walk-on freshman at Oregon State. The 5-10 guard was a two-time first-team 3A All-State player at Corbett High. As a senior last season, she was 3A Player of the Year and state tournament MVP, scoring a record 42 points with eight 3-pointers in the championship game as Corbett won the state title and finished 27-0. Her father, Bill Schimel, was the head coach. Her mother, Kari Schimel, is Larry’s daughter. Kari was an All-State player at Lake Oswego High and went on to a career as a four-year starter at San Jose State.
With Oregon State’s roster depleted by the loss of seven transfers from its Elite Eight team of a year ago, Schimel has stepped into the regular rotation for Coach Scott Rueck as a freshman. Her grandfather has made trips to watch the Beavers play against Minnesota and Arizona State in Tempe and against Illinois in Champaign.
“All of my grandkids have been involved in sports, from softball to soccer to volleyball to basketball,” Steele says. “I understand how fortunate I am to have been able to watch all of them play. To see Ally, who loves basketball so much, play at Oregon State, and to have Scott and his staff coaching her, is very exciting. Things had to work out for her to get this opportunity, but she is making the most of it. If you get an opportunity, step through the door and take advantage of it. And she is.”
Steele began his summer camp at the University of Portland in 1986. He is looking ahead to his 39th year at Camp Cedar Ridge in Vernonia next summer for youths ages nine to 18. There will be five-day camps for girls (June 19-23) and boys (July 7-11). Bill and Kari Schimel serve as co-directors.
“Our camps are for kids who love basketball,” Steele says. “The theme is fun, fundamentals and friends. It really is that way. It is great for us to be able to put on a camp that is held outdoors and is a sleep-over. There aren’t many of those available.”
Steele isn’t sure how many more years he will operate the camp.
“Probably until my youngest grandchild (Cash Schimel) gets tired of it, and I don’t think he will,” Larry says. “He is in seventh grade, so I will get to 40 years at least.”
(To register go to larrysteelebasketball.com)
Steele is pleased that his grandchildren have inherited his love for sports.
“I had a passion for the game of basketball,” he says. “I tell my grandkids, as well as the kids at our camps, if you enjoy basketball and have a passion for the game, just play. I loved to play basketball, whether on the sandlot or the concrete courts or at all the great facilities in the NBA. One thing that was consistent with my time in Portland, whether it was as we were a developing team or NBA champions, I got to play basketball. That was the best part of it all.”
Steele is in great shape. His playing weight at the end of his NBA career was 195 pounds; now he weighs in at between 200 and 205. Part of that is due to his current devotion to pickleball. He took it up a year ago and is hooked. On the day before we met for lunch, he spent six hours on the courts at Life Time Fitness in Beaverton. On the morning of the lunch date, he played for three hours. He plays — mostly doubles — at least four days a week.
“I play some singles, but it’s hard to find anybody who is 75 or over to play against me,” he says.
Steele recently returned from watching the Professional Pickleball Association finals in San Clemente, Calif.
“It was so much fun watching them play and seeing how good they are,” he says. “I have played in a couple of tournaments and I will try to find some next year with an age bracket of 75 and over.”
He laughs and adds, “Surely I can beat those old farts.”
Steele says he attends about 75 percent of the Blazers’ home games. He says the organization has gone out of its way in recent years to make its alumni feel welcome at games, including an offer to watch practice sessions.
“We have had a few years over our history when the (team’s deportment) wasn’t quite what we would have liked, but for the most part, it has been great,” he says. “What is going on now is frustrating for the fans and more frustrating, I’m sure, for the coaches. Is it possible to go maybe 20 games and have all the key players available? But it is a really good organization, with a lot of good people. I hope we can get things turned around.”`
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