Saying goodbye to Duck
Fans, ex-teammates, media and friends gathered in Memorial Coliseum Saturday morning to bid a final farewell to Kevin Duckworth. And I want to publicly acknowledge what a terrific job the Trail Blazer organization did to make it a wonderful gathering, from the stage setting to the video, the music, the roster of speakers and the atmosphere.
It was an emotional two hours that brought home to me how fortunate I was to be a beat reporter covering those great Blazer teams of the early 1990s. Not because of how many games they won, but because of what terrific people they were. Harry Glickman, speaking at the memorial service, spoke about “winning with good people” and he was so right.
As I watched Buck Williams, Terry Porter, Jerome Kersey and Clyde Drexler (via videotape from Taiwan) speak so lovingly and eloquently about their late friend and teammate, it reminded me what an outstanding group of men made up that team. These players of intelligence, integrity and great passion came together under a coach, Rick Adelman, who knew how to put what was a bit of an odd mix together into a winning team. Adelman, also at the Saturday service, built a tremendous pride within the team that was the cornerstone of its success. I was lucky to watch it up close and Portland was fortunate to call the team its own.
As far as I’m concerned, that was a championship team. That it didn’t win the big trophy really doesn’t matter to me in the slightest. It won the hearts of its city and still owns a lot of those hearts. It won the respect of us all to this day. And it was a blueprint, off and on the court, for how to operate a successful pro sports franchise.
And the encouraging thing, of course, is that the Blazers now seem to be going about their business in much the same way. Duckworth knew this and during his post-playing career I’d never seen him happier than I had the last 12 months. He was a Trail Blazer again, back in the family — thanks to Larry Miller, Mike Golub, Kevin Pritchard and all those who have brought a conscience and a heart back to the franchise. The Blazers were a family Duck could once again be proud of.
This can be such a special franchise and it can have such a huge impact on the city and even the entire state. We can thank Kevin Duckworth for reminding us what the very best of the Blazers looks and feels like.
