A warm, wonderful goodbye to ‘The Schonz’
He was always comfortable in the limelight, taking that spot on center stage with confidence and verve.
The Schonz finally climbs the golden ladder. What a ride it was
The Schonz finally climbs the golden ladder. What a ride it was
Schonz calls it a career: ‘Good night, everybody!’
As would be expected, Bill Schonely did not have the most restful night of sleep on Sunday.
Talking All-Star Game to Portland (nope), Geoff Petrie and Jerry West, Gary Payton and Lester Conner, The Kamikaze Kids … and more
Items on my mind during the chilly final days of February …
• Thought for the day provided by Frank “The Flake” Peters, at 78 still a juvenile at heart:
Buck doesn’t stop at Olshey —At least, he says it doesn’t
Neil Olshey conducts a press conference not so much to inform the media as to educate them.
When the Trail Blazers’ president of basketball operations (general manager) believes the narrative about his team and the job he is doing is off-kilter, he’ll gather the scribes and set them straight.
Olshey has long been president of the Neil Olshey Fan Club, and when membership gets low, he does what he can to drum up the numbers.
That’s what he did during a Monday Zoom conference with local reporters, whose collective wisdom, he is quite sure, fits neatly on the head of a pin. Not only does Olshey not suffer fools gladly, he enjoys delivering a proverbial kick in the tush when he deems it necessary.
Fronk was one of Oregon’s great athletes, ‘and the kind of person to match’
Bob Fronk was easy-going, smart, inquisitive, competitive and, among other things, one heck of an athlete.
Most of those traits are indisputable, especially the last one, as those who watched Fronk — who died in Portland Thursday at age 62 — play sports in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.
Fronk, however, was not lucky.
On shoddy officiating, COVID’s impact and Pac-12 women’s hoops, along with a little Terry Stotts and Charles Barkley …
Reflections from ye old scribe on a few sporting subjects …
• I’m rarely one to criticize sports officials. I have friends who are referees and admire their integrity and intestinal fortitude. I umpired and refereed during my high school and college years. I believe those who work college and pro sports most often do a very credible job.
But what happened Saturday night in Seattle was nothing short of a travesty.
Fifty years ago, the Blazers got it all started with a victory over the Cavs …
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.
On Cliff Robinson, Another one gone before his time From the early ‘90s Blazers …
Cliff Robinson’s death Friday at the age of 53 leaves another gaping hole in the heart of Rip City.
In 2008, Kevin Duckworth died of congestive heart failure. He was 44.
In 2015, Jerome Kersey passed away from the effects of a blood clot. He was 52.
I was a guest on Portland's 1080 The Fan’s Dirt and Sprague Show on June 11, 2020
I recently joined Andy "Dirt" Johnson and Brandon Sprague on their daily radio talk show. We discussed the passing of the original Trail Blazer Harry Glickman.