Q
by Hoy L i t Jermyan
Sports Editor
THE 1986 ALL STATE
BASKETBALL TEAM
A JOKE
In years past, I have laughingly
just passed aside the Oregon All-State
basketball selections but this year I
have an outlet for my commentary
Only in Oregon can kids be so severe
ly hurt and disappointed by the
media's neglect o f their abilities. Per
sonally, I believe it is intentional.
In I9HJ, Cindy
Brown led the
Grant Generals to the finals in the
girls' Class A A A , where they lost to
Crook County. I watched each game
Grant played that year and there was
no better basketball player in the state
• • SPORT TALK • SPORT TALK •
pur with many ol the votu^ coaches.
How many times do you think that the
d«ch from Ontario High School saw
Andre («orge or Aaron Bell play1 By
the way, the boys "Player of the Year”
was Bnan King ol Ontario Ihey must
play a pretty heavy schedule over there,
wherever over there is.
The boys' first team is as white as the
paper I'm typing on, and we know
better than that If the kids could play
heller hall than the ones they heat out, I
wouldn't have a word to say but they
can’t, and I do. There was not one
sportswriter that attended the boys'
than ( indy Brown. When "Player of
the Year" honors weren't bestowed
on Cindy, I went nuts. There was only
one All-American in the state for
girls that year, and it was ( indy Brown
but she couldn't win player of the
year in her own state. For all o f
Cindy's efforts, Rappin’ Rodney got
more respect than she did.
They're at it again. The best Tony
Ross, Anthony Butler, and l-affaira
Taylor could get was Honorable M en
tion. Aaron Bell was left out com
pletely. It slinks!
(in the girls' side o f the ledger,
Traci Thirdgill could manage only
another honorable mention. Karon
Howell made the first team and was
selected “ Player o f the Y ear." There
was little that could’ve been done to
deny Karon her honors because she
led her team to back to back state
championships.
The Class A A A teams were select
cd by a vote o f all the boys’ and girls’
high school basketball coaches in
Oregon. That revelation should make
at least a lew of them hang their heads.
I will confess that I have not seen all
of the players selected, which puts me at
state tournament that didn't recognize
Kalb Smith and Tony Ross' dominant
abilities Keith was snubbed to the third
team. Lalfaira Taylor led the tourna
ment in rebounding and couldn’t make
the Tournament All-Star team, not to
mention All-Stale
Imdsay Strothers led his St. Mary's
Blues to the championship in his first
year as head coach and didn't get a
sniff at "Coach of the Year.” That
dubious distinction went to the coach
friwn West lunn. He sure had a kw to do
with a team that was so big their point
guard was 5-foot-11.
I no longer have to wonder why kids
from Oregon have such a tough time
ciwtipeting on a national level; they're
surrounded by coaches that have tunnel
vision and are sorry judges of talent
For you kids that have hem subjected
to this travesty, take heart in the fact that
there are other that recognize your tal
ents without blinders on. Use this ex
perience to make you a stronger and
better individual. I'm here to tell you,
many others have suffered the same
fate and have used the experience to
spur themselves on to greater achieve
ments. This is only a sample o f what
they have out there for you. Remem
ber it, but don't dwell on it, and when
you see it being done to others after
you. Pass it on!
BLAZERS ROLL
TO PLAYOFFS
The Trail Blazers are in. The Phoe
nix Suns came to town Tuesday night
limping and left on crutches after
being manhandled by the Blazers
116-KX). The home team had already
clinched a playoff spot and the win
over the Suns put the Blazers one
game over the .5<M) mark.
I won't go into that nonsense about
if the playolfs started today, because
they don't. No matter which team the
Blazers face in the first series, they
must win. Trying to escape the Los
Angeles bracket won't do either, the
Inkers arc going to he there.
The overtime loss to the Lakers
Sunday proved conclusively that the
Blazers are ready to play for the m ar
bles. Kenny ( art has proved himvelt
to be the glue for this team and with
the rough-house playoff style that's
ahead. Kenny should more than
prove his worth.
The bench lix»kx good, as long as
Valentine stays on it. Pax is coming
KENNY CARR
around to form, which is definitely a
plus, and Clyde............. is Clyde. Sam
needed that game against Kareem
Sunday to clear his head o f that idol
izing rhetoric he's been dishing out.
One dumb pass doesn’t lose a ball-
game, so I won't come down on
Mychal Besides Mychal has played
more consistently good ball than
any Blazer this year.
Steve C o lte r.. . my man. Now that
Jack has found out that this young
man is his best point guard, let's
see what happens when the playoffs
start. Kiki still can't rebound or play
defense but I like him on the offensive
end. The physical playoff game won't
be up K iki’s alley so we might, and
should see a lot o f Jerome Kersey.
On the basketball door, I like this
team. I picked them to lake the West
ern Conference when the season start
ed and I ’m going to stick to that O ff
the hardwood is another story alto
gether. Before the Brothers leave
for the summer, we'll get to that
story, loo.
In order for me io get to the meat
o f that story, I need some input from
you. our readers. What are your feel
ings concerning the team members
and their involvement in our com
munity affairs? Do you consider them
as memberss o f this community?
Don't stop me on the street and tell
me; pul it on paper so we can print it
and see what the community reaction
is.
Tsnnla great Arthur Ash« will host "A Hard Road to Glory: The Black
Athlete In A m erica," a two-hour special featuring interview» with many
Black athletes, seldom seen action footage and dramatic re-enactment»
to capture Am erica's rivltlng sports drama.
The Duke Report — Portland's
Urban Contemporary News Show.
Our journalistic focus is youth,
neighborhoods and Portlanders o f color.
Sunday, M onday, Thursday and Friday
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and exclusion. In rare contests with
whiles, triumph was treated with
violent anger by the broader society
and defeat With glee And yet, Black
athletes prevailed In today's America
the Black athlete is a paragon, heroic
in stature to the point o f stereotype.
And even this has proven to be a
stumbling block, another reason
among many that the path of athletes
for the Black American has been " A
Hard Road to G lo ry ."
The ProScrv Television prixluction
of " A Hard Road to Glory: The
Black Athlete in Am erica," is based
on extensive research conducted by
tennis great and on-camera host
Arthur Ashe.
The two-hour special incorporates
seldom-seen as well as famous foot
age and photographs, dramatic re
enactments o f significant moments in
American history and interviews with
people who changed the world II
represents the first time that the role
of the Black athlete in American so
ciety has been so thoroughly docu
mented. " A Hard Road lo G lory"
captures and defines America's most
riveting sports drama.
In the ProScrv Television produc
tion the drama begins with the legend
ary and controversial Jack Johnson,
the first Black heavyweight champion
of the world Arthur Ashe, sealed on
the edge of a large desk in a sunlit
study with fxxikshelves and portraits
ol Black athletes visible behind him,
explains that Johnson’s victory was
the pivotal moment in the history of
Black American athletics.
Ashe points out that Johnson’s
victory over Jim Jeffries in Reno,
Nevada, in 1910 marked the end of a
pervasive believe among whites that
Blacks were not physical equals The
camera zooms lo a portrait of a de
termined and fierce Jack Johnson
framed on the wall behind Ashe, and
as the shot dissolves into footage
of one o f Johnson’s histone fights,
the narrator — James Lari Jones —
begins the talc o f a dock-worker who
turned to lighting when he discovered
he was pretty good with his fists.........
still photographs are shown of John
son as he pursued the heavyweight
champion around the world in pur
suit of a title fight.........there's action
footage o f him winning the world
title, then defending it against Jcf-
n es.. and newspaper headlines about
the killings that followed; the nar
rator then puts the event into per
spective — an American forced to ac
cept the truth that an athlete, at least,
is made by talent and determination,
and not by the shade o f his skin.
Using this truth as a springboard,
the production lulls buck lo the roots
of Black athleticism. Dianne IXirham,
the first world-class Black gymnast, is
seen performing a llixir exercise rou
tine Her talent, it is explained, is in
born and God-given. As she leaps
into the air, her spin slows and there is
an electric rhythm The narrator says
that her talent, like that o f Jack John
son and the many who came before,
simply needed the right nurturing in
order to hlixim The seed o f gteatness
was planted long ago in the soil where
the hard road began
As the music heightens, an African
village appears much as it would have
been four hundred years ago. C hil
dren are playing games that involve
tumbling, wrestling and running the
tribe’s most esteemed young men arc
hunters — athletes who succeed on
agility, speed, cnduraixr and strength.
The social fabric o f the African vil
lage carries a theme: survival and
honor are achieved through athletic
activity. Il tv a theme that will remain
through the dark days o f slavery and
civil war, through deprivation and
discrimination, and will nourish again
in 20ih Century America
On this foundation — a pivotal
moment early in this century and a
quiet moment in the larthest reaches
o f Black sports history — the pro
gram is built.
Ashe intrtxluces the subject at hand
from his study or from a significant
historical location (such at Comiskcy
Park in Chicago, where the Negro
Ixague all-star games were played
and where Joe Louts won the world
heavyweight championship). Dram at
ic re-enactments include boxing scenes
with Tom Molincaux early in the
IWXK, horse racing with the great
19th Century jockeys Monkey Simon
and Isaac Murphy, and the crucial,
personal moment in 1910 that inspired
Branch Rickey to sign Jackie Robin
son to the Brooklyn Dixlgers almost
40 years later.
Historical footage includes Jesse
Owens running against and Joe Louts
fighting against H itler’s supposed
supermen, plus footage and stills of
Black baseball, football, basketball
and tennis stars, even bicycle racers.
The emergence o f Black women in
sports is seen in footage and inter
views. Olympic superstars Wyomta
Tyus and W ilm a Rudolph and tennis
great Althea Gibson arc featured.
The role o f the Black athlete in the
political turbulence o f the I96<>s will
be portrayed through the young Cas
sius Clay and the older Muhammad
Alt, and through Tom my Smith and
John Carlos.
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acceptability and sometimes even
survival through sports from the
moment the first slave ship left an
African shore. Then lor centuries all
games involving Blacks in America
were couched in official racism, ever
present hatred, violence, ignorance
AT
ArCsCustomPhotography
A Hard Road to Glory -
Because the athletic contest at its
best is a pure measure of ability that
regards nothing but results, it has
often been the only avenue toward
esteem open to an outcast American
minority. Taking what society would
give, Black athletes began fighting for
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