Jack Ramsay, the intense Hall of Fame coach who in 1977 led the Trail Blazers to their only NBA title and later became a beloved elder statesman of basketball, died Monday after a 15-year battle with cancer. He was 89. The ‘77 Blazers used Ramsay’s fast-break offense to overcome a 2-0 deficit to beat the Philadelphia 76ers for the championship, still Oregon’s defining sports achievement. Two days later The Oregonian’s front page depicted Ramsay as he rode a convertible through thousands of delirious fans thronging downtown Portland, his arms upstretched in triumph.
When I moved to Portland in 1983, the city was only six years separated from its first (and still only) NBA title. The Trail Blazers are more than a franchise to the denizens of Rip City; for many they represent the city’s identity, a role they now share with the MLS’ Portland Timbers. Until the Timbers joined MLS, the Blazers were the only major league sports franchise in town. Everything they did- win or lose- was larger than life. Portland’s a small city with an almost total absence of aspirations for bigger things. The Trail Blazers are an anomaly in many respects, in that they’re part of a nationwide league and based in a city that likes being what it is.
To say that Jack Ramsay transformed both the Trail Blazers and Portland doesn’t come close to describing the impact he had on both. Winning the 1977 NBA Championship gave Portland “street creed,” at least in the eyes of those who call Puddletown home. The 37-years-and-counting chase to get back there has seen some pretty profound changes take place. Portland’s definitely not the disconnected-from-the-rest-of-the-world burg it once was.
Jack Ramsay’s role in bringing the 1977 NBA title to Portland made him an icon in Portland. Defeating Philadelphia in Game Six to win the championship represents for many Portland’s transition from a sleepy little-known frontier town to something very different. Ramsay, whose sojourn in Portland represents but a very small sliver of his basketball career (F’rinstance, he took St. Joseph’s to their only Final Four in 1961), made an impact on players, coaches, owners, and the game itself. It would be difficult to fully do justice to Ramsay’s contribution in this space…other than to say that few of us will be fortunate enough to leave this Earth having touched so many lives in the way Ramsay did. The world is a poorer place today for his loss…and Portland’s a much different place than it was before his arrival.
