What else can I write about Dwight Jaynes? Hey — keep it clean out there.

The “Godfather” of Portland sports journalism hasn’t been around forever, even though it may seem that way. The longtime sports columnist and media personality actually began in the business in 1972 as a “part-timer” in the sports department of Portland’s long-defunct afternoon newspaper, the Oregon Journal.

Journal sports editor George Pasero hired Jaynes, a recent Portland State graduate, on a referral from Journal sportswriter Ken Wheeler.

“Ken got me a job as a part-timer answering phones,” says Jaynes, one of the celebrities who will pick NCAA Tournament games as part of the “Pros vs. Joes” Bracket Challenge on kerryeggers.com. “I made $2.25 an hour on the night shift. I worked during the day repairing small appliances — lawn tools, electrical shavers, floor lamps.”

As one might expect, Jaynes loved the latter job. But he decided to pursue sportswriting anyway, though he had no experience writing for newspapers in high school or college and had majored in general studies/social science at Portland State.

“I was just lucky,” Jaynes says. “I had a bit of a talent to write mostly from being an avid sports-page reader when I was young. My dad got me going on that. And I had been involved in coaching, so I knew a lot of high school coaches. My first full-time gig with The Journal was covering high school sports. I had an edge because of friendships I’d made with those high school coaches.”

Jaynes started full-time at The Journal in 1974, a year before I arrived on the scene, a fresh-faced, punk kid, 21 and straight out Oregon State. We became instant running mates, the two young guys in an office of older writers such as Pasero, Wheeler, Bill Mulflur, John Nolen and Carl Cluff. A friendship of two rather opinionated members of the Fourth Estate has lasted 47 years, for better or for worse.

Dwight and I worked together for 33 years until 2008, save one year (2000) when he left The Oregonian because the powers-that-be wouldn’t let him host a radio show in addition to his column-writing chores. In my mind, Jaynes is the best newspaper sports columnist the city of Portland ever had — and I’ve read them all (some via microfilm). Nobody took on a topic and presented problems and solutions better. Nobody wrote more clearly or more entertainingly than Dwight — at least on a good day. He was funny and provocative and, most of the time, right on with his observations.

Jaynes hosted talk radio for about three years at KPAM beginning in 2000. A year later, he became editor of the fledgling Portland Tribune and was in charge of hiring a staff of writers (and made me his first hire, bless his soul) who put out a product that was twice honored as the nation’s best non-daily of the year.

Dwight left the Trib in 2008 and wound up co-hosting a radio talk show with Chad Doing. In 2010, he left for a job with Comcast Sports Northwest, which carried Trail Blazer games and eventually became NBC Sports Northwest. He was there as a “Blazer insider” until the network folded after the team moved its games to Root Sports last summer.

Dwight was good enough as a talking head to win the Oregon Sportscaster of the Year Award in 2013. He won five of them as a sportswriter, making him the first ever to win both in the state. He is one of two sportswriters to be inducted as a member of the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame, joining the great Leo Davis. (I believe the profession has been shorted. Jaynes and Davis were honored for “special contribution.” There should be a category for “sportswriting” as there is for “broadcasting.”  Among those who should be inducted: Pasero and Wheeler. But I digress.)

Since July, Jaynes has been in “unrestricted free agent” status. If you have a job that suits him and would pay him well, come on down.

“I’m not saying I’m retired,” he says. “I may well be, but I’m not saying it. I’d still like to do something. I’d probably like to do radio, But we’ll see. I’m not really looking for anything. I would interested in talking to anybody about a job like that.”

When athletic director Val Cleary left Portland State for the Multnomah Athletic Club last year, Jaynes inquired. He is a PSU grad, coached baseball there for three years and is very familiar with the athletic department and the university.

“I expressed interest with the interim AD (Linda Williams), and she said she would forward my name to the president,” he says. “I never heard anything after that. Because of my experience coaching there and covering them, and that’s where I graduated from, I think I’d have been good. They didn’t seem to have any interest.”

I asked Jaynes to comment on five people who were major influences on his life, beginning with Pasero, who wrote sports for seven decades with The Journal and was sports editor from 1956-82. All of us who worked for him remember one of his familiar adages: “A sportswriter knows no hours.” For many years, Pasero wrote a column six days a week, covered a beat and ran the sports department.

“George gave me my chance,” Jaynes says. “I was a bit of a long shot. I was always going to coach and teach, and then when I decided not to, I sold real estate for a year. George showed us all how to work. Say whatever you want about the guy, he was 24 hours a day. He was all over that job. It turned out, those of us who worked for him were, too. We probably devoted too much time to the job at the sacrifice of wives and family. It was the only way I was going to get ahead. I wasn’t as talented as some in the business, but I think I outworked a lot of people. That was because of the example set by George.”

Dwight’s father, Bill, was a conductor for Southern Pacific Railroad for more than 40 years. I got to know him when Dwight and I coached the grade school basketball teams of his son, Willie, for four years. Bill rarely missed a game. He was a delight to have around.

“Dad was the one who set up my interest in sports,” Dwight says. “He was a big baseball fan. He spent time in St. Louis in the military before he was shipped off to World War II. Servicemen could sit in the bleachers at games at Sportsman Park for free. He saw the Browns or the Cardinals play almost every day.

“He was just a big sports fan in general. He’d come home from working long hours on the railroad and get to one of my games if he could. He missed some, but if he were in town, it didn’t matter how tired he was, he’d come. He set the standard for me in terms of how to appreciate sports and sportsmanship.”

Jaynes played baseball for Jack Dunn at Cleveland High. Dunn went on to serve as head coach for 20 years at Portland State. Dwight and Jack, who turns 93 on May 31, have remained close through the years.

“More than a coach, Jack was a real mentor to me,” Jaynes says. “He was always there to give advice to all of us who played for him. So many of his former players still keep in touch with him. He was very important in our lives for many reasons. Beyond all the things you learned from him in baseball, he was a very good guy, a funny guy, and was always interested in how we all did.

“Jack was there to help me when I thought I was going to be a baseball coach. I coached the JV team at Portland State for three years; Jack helped me get that. After I graduated, Jack moved from Cleveland to Wilson High. The first summer, he brought Mike Clopton and me in as assistant coaches for his Legion team to integrate his system there. As a writer, I covered him (Dunn) during some great times when he coached Dale Murphy and his (Dunn’s) sons at Wilson.”

Clopton amassed a record of 613-438 while coaching baseball at Jackson and Wilson high schools from 1977-2014, ranking him fourth on the state’s all-time win list. He won state titles with the Trojans in 2006 and ’12.

“We’ve known each other since fourth grade,” Jaynes says. “He was an extremely successful coach, a role model for any coach in the way that he handled his teams. He and his wife (Gayle) put in way more time than any high school coach should put into the program.

“Mike and I were great friends growing up. We had baseball in common. Mike was on my first Little League team. We grew up playing ball together and shared a passion for baseball and for sports in general. He is such a good-hearted person. I’ve never heard him utter a curse word. He has so much integrity and honesty; no one could ask for a better friend. He has been a big help to me through all my trials and tribulations.”

Trebelhorn advanced as high as Double-A baseball as a player but went far beyond it in coaching. He was manager of the Milwaukee Brewers from 1986-91 and was named by both Baseball America and Sports Illustrated as the MLB Manager of the Year in 1987. He also managed the Chicago Cubs for one season in 1994.

“Mike, Treb and I played together on all-star teams as we were growing up,” Jaynes says. “For several years, we would take an annual trip to California and watch major league games. Treb had a tremendous career in baseball for a guy who didn’t make his mark as a player.

“Treb is one of those guys who was wise beyond his years. He has always been very philosophical and intelligent — way smarter than me. He played the trumpet in the marching band and was a tremendous piano player. When he was managing, he’d walk into a hotel and sit down and play something beautiful right off the cuff. He’s a Renaissance man who has done everything in his life that he’s wanted to.

“I’ve been so blessed to have friends like Mike and Treb. Salt of the earth. We’ve all stayed in touch and care about each other.”

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