**age 6
I he Portland O bserver-‘October 17, 1990
i
Portland Observer
THE LOCKER ROOM
Locker Room Profile:
Holiday market. He was in between clients
and took a few moments to reflect on his
basketball career and future direction.
Hampton even found time to talk about
another dream of his that he has since let
go, playing in the National Basketball
Association.
“ I get asked about the NBA a lot” ,
he said. "A re you going to try out for the
Blazers? Why didn’t you make it? I
wasn’t good enough to make it is the
answer, but that does not mean that I’m
a failure at all. What I’ve done is use
basketball to the utmost and as a step­
ping stone to achieve other things such
as your Masters and my education. It’s
Tony Hampton
all been a very positive experience. Also,
8Y:ULLYSSESTUCKER,JR.
it’s not always about talent. It’s a little
bit about politics and being in the right
ight years ago, Tony Hampton
place at the right time. When people ask
was a skinny tenth grader at me that question about playing in the
Grant High School with dreams of NBA,
play­ they do not realize how compli­
ing for UCLA and majoring in Commu­ cated a question that is.”
nications. He barely stood six foot Thanks
Locker Room-How do you feel when
to his early heroes, Adron and LaVeme you look at television and see guys you
Hampton-his parents, Tony had a firm played against or played real tough?
grip on life and was taught by them to set
Hampton-” I deal with it realisti­
goals. Hampton also looked up to Julius cally. I believe that you can always dream,
Evring and professional baseball player but that does not mean that all your
Darryl Motley, who hails from Portland. dreams will come true. It helps to make
There is something else that you life a little easier. I get satisfaction know­
should know about Tony Hampton. He ing that on any given day I can play on
never attended UCLA and he did not that level or in that league (NBA). I may
major in Communications. Instead he at­ not be a better player or perform better at
tended College o f the Desert (Palm all times, but I know that I can get on the
Dessert, Ca.) and Montana State (87) same floor.”
University. His degree is in Public Rela­
Locker Room-What are your respon­
tions. Hampton earned All-Conference sibilities with the Xerox Corporation?
and All State honors at College of the
Hampton-’T ’m a Marketing Repre­
Desert (82-84). At Montana State, sentative for Xerox Corporation. I handle
Hampton again earned All-Conference copiers/duplicators and fax machines.
honors and was named the MVP of the I’m responsible for the Northwest terri­
Big Sky Athletic Conference (1986). He tory, meaning that I have a large number
left his impact in the record books at of new business or existing accounts in
MSU. Hampton also led his team to an the area. My job is to manage these
NCAA berth and later played in the accounts to the best of my ability. I sell
CBA.
products. I do anything from flyers, tele­
Today, Hampton is still under six- phonies, etc...any way that 1 can to gener­
foot and skinny. If a strong Montana ate business for my corporation.”
wind blew through town, Hampton looks
Locker Room-How would you
as though he would need some rocks in compare Xerox with basketball. Both
his pocket to prevent an unplanned trip are very competitive.
to Texas. He never grew to that 6 foot 5
Hampton-” There is not a day that
guard everyone expected, but Hampton goes by where I fail to relate my job to
did develop into a solid citizen and pro­ sports-any sport. Basketball or football.
fessional in the corporate community. You must have the discipline to get up
Hampton currently works as a marketing everyday and have the desire to make
representative for the Xerox Corpora­ your business better. You have to have
tion. He enjoys selling products and the the same level of intensity and work
challenge of creating new business. W ise ethic as an athlete.
beyond his twenty five years, Hampton
Locker Room-How do you cope with
attributes most of his success to listening rejection in your line of work?
and leaning from the experiences of older
Hampton-’’I handle it pretty good.
adults. He respects their wisdom, As long as I can go out each day and
insight,and secrets to build his life.
work as hard as I can, I believe that I will
The Locker Room caught up with eventually get that sale. Adversity in
Hampton by appointment, recently at life, as well as the corporate world, is an
E
Nikes New World Campus
Offers 90’s Work environment
NIKE, Inc., has opened the doors to Prefontaine Center, other structures in­
is new World Campus in Beaverton, clude:
Oregon, bringing together some 1,400
Five four-story office buildings with
Oregon employees for the first time. The many office spaces offering breathtak­
bulk of NIKE employees will be moved ing views. Open work spaces are pro­
in by mid-November. The athletic foot­ vided with an abundance of natural light
wear and apparel company’s new head­ from the large windows and four-story
quarters offers employees more than just lobby atriums. The major office build­
a unified location.
ings are linked by covered arcades fea­
The nine-building,570,000 square- turing commemorative plaques honor­
foot complex is located on a 74-acre site ing more than 175 world-class athletes
at S.W. Jenkins and Murray Roads in with whom NIKE has been closely asso­
Beaverton, approximately 10 miles from ciated over the years.
downtown Portland. The entire campus
A campus employee center offers
is surrounded by large, beautifully land­ dining rooms, sports deli, employee store,
scaped, earthen berms which notact as a hair salon, bank teller machine and gift
natural fence to shield the buildings from shop.
street view, but also serve as sound bar­
A fully-appointed athletic club
equipped with, among other things, an
riers from street noise.
The first man-made structures which indoor track, basketball courts, squash
come into view are the formal-looking and racquetball courts, aerobics and
“ gatew ays” spanning the two main weight-training rooms, locker rooms,
entries. Visitors may be surprised to realize sauna, jacuzzi and a juice bar. Multi­
these arc actually jogging bridges, a purpose playing fields, tennis courts and
continuation of the running rails which outdoor facilities for volleyball and bas­
twist and turn through the unspoiled woods ketball are adjacent to the Athletic Club.
around the perimeter of the campus. All
Future plans include a 12,000 square-
o f the buildings arc named after promi­ foot Day Care Center slated to open in
nent athletes. The main entry at One the summer of '91; and an additional
Bowerman Drive (named after NIKE co- 240,000 square feet of office space to be
founder and two-time Olympic Track completed by Fall’92. The company
and Field coach Bill Bowerman) leads recently purchased 100 adjoining acres
past a flag court and fountains to main of land which are earmarked for future
reception building. In the Steve Prefon­ expansion.
taine Center, visitors can pick up some
NIKE developed the entire World
NIKE history by browsing through the Campus project in-house. Under the day-
NIKE Hall of Fame and Museum. The to-day coordination of Jim Robison,
Prefontaine Center also houses meeting NIKE’s Director of Administration, a
rooms and a 65 scat auditorium.
team of local Northwest professionals
The entire NIKE World Campus is was retained to make the corporate dream
organized efficiently around a seven- a reality.
acre man-made lake. In addition to the
X
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everyday part of life. I deal with it from
day to day and look for ways to improve
my skills, the same way I dealt with
basketball.”
Locker Room-How does a person
develop character to endure adversity or
grow from it.
Hampton-” You must have goals.
You must have a vision of where you
would like to be in your field. As long as
that vision is clear. I don’t believe that
there is any amount of adversity or road­
blocks, outside of death, that should be
able to stop you.”
Locker Room-What advice do you
offer young people chasing that NBA
dream?
Hampton-’’They need to listen and
take advantage of the experiences of the
older athletes around town. Young people
need to seek out those who have been
where they ate trying to go and ask
questions. I did. Once they do that, it
makes attaining ones goals much easier
because you know something that people
on your level don’t know or understand
yet.”
Locker Room-How do you convince
“ Knucklehead” youngsters to listen
more?
Hampton-” I think real examples
always help. Through my experiences, I
seen a lot of players come and go. by
using examples with young people,k not
preaching, you can hopefully depict a
real view of what can happen if you do
not take care of business, if you don’t go
to school, or if you don’t listen. I think,
for the most part, a lot of young people
will listen if they are around the right
role models.”
Locker Room-What is a good role
model?
Hampton-’’A good role model
doesn’t have to be a ball player. It could
be your brother, your sister, or anyone
with leadership skills, anyone that has
discipline, is motivated to achieve, and a
strong sense of self-esteem. A role model,
is different things for different people.”
Locker room-What about the youth
with no sense of hope, motivation, or
good role models?
Hampton-” The trouble is not so much
getting them motivated, it’s finding them
and getting them into some type of pro­
gram. I think, however, that it all starts at
home. Your parents are your first role
models and the most important ones. My
parents were very important for m e.”
Locker Room-Thanks Tony.
Hampton-” You’re welcome!”
Hampton, in summary, said that he
would like to be used as a resource in the
community for kids and his peers. His
ultimate goals is to help those who helped
him. Good luck at Xerox.
bv
Aaron Fentress
Should Women reporters be
allowed into men's locker rooms ?
Should male reporters be allowed
into women's locker rooms ? Should
any reporter be allowed into cither
sex's locker rooms ? The question is
not about sex or discrimination, it's
about privacy.
There is no question that
denying woman reporters access to
men's locker rooms while male
reporters are getting the stories is
wrong. If the men are in there then
the woman should have the right to
also be there. Woman reporters do
not (for the most part) salivate at the
sight of sweaty naked athletes after a
sporting event.
"We go into locker rooms
not because we want to, but because
we have to," said Christine Brennan a
woman reporter for the L.A. Times-
Washington Post Service.
"The
locker room is the place where
writers interview athletes. It's not
exciting or sexy or tantalizing. It's
cramped and steamy and messy. "
Point well taken.
For
woman reporters scuffling through a
locker room filled with 45 football
players, 15 coaches, and countless
other reporters doesn't sound like
much fun. It's get in, get the story
and get out. No time to look at
girating buttocks or anything else
that might be girating behind a
towel. It's a job and woman have a
right to do it.
You might say 1100 million beer
bottles can’t go wrong.
In the past four years alone, that’s
how many empty bottles have been re­
turned to the Blitz-Weinhard brewery in
Portland for refilling. Not recycled. Re­
filled. Used again. And again.
Blitz-Weinhard is the only brewer
that has refilled its bottles continuously
since the Oregon bottle bill became ef­
fective in 1972-even though that law
only requires bottles to be redeemed.
Blitz-Weinhard now refills 78 percent of
all bottles of Henry W einhard’s Private
Reserve sold in Oregon.
The brewery’s success in bucking a
national trend away from refillables has
led it to take its bottle refilling campaign
to other Pacific Northwest states, includ­
ing Washington, Montana and now Idaho,
where distributors have been clamoring
for refillables-and the good guy image
But what about the rights of
the players. Should male athletes be
forced to have woman reporters in
their locker room if it makes them
uncomfortable ? Cincinnati Bengal's
head coach Sam Wychc didn't think
so three weeks ago when he barred a
female reporter from his teams locker
room following a Monday night loss
to the Seattle Scahawks. Wyche was
fined $30,000 even though his
actions
were
not
sexually
dcscriminantly intended.
"Sam Wyche was not
letting a woman into the locker room
with all his players naked," said
Wyche. "I am not doing that to
these guys. I'm not doing it to their
wives. I'll be out of this business
before I do that. Our guys don't want
a woman to walk into a situation
like that."
Although the incident was
treated seriously, considering the
amount of Wyche’s fine, Wyche
really did nothing wrong.
He
allowed the reporter, Denise Tom
from the USA TODAY, to talk to
any player she wanted to. But the
interview had to be done outside the
locker room.
In my opinion no
harm done. According to Brennan
many of her male colleagues don't
really care for the locker room either.
And many of the players, as do
Wyche's,
don't really want any
reporters, male or female, in their
locker rooms, There's really only
one solution to this problem.
Special rooms where interviews can
be held. The only problem is tliat
many of the N.F.L. stadiums don't
have this type of facility. They need
to be built.
Professional athletes are
public figures who are under the
microscope of the press and both
men and woman have the right to
interview them. But the athletes
involved also have a right to their
privacy. Under league rules N.F.L.
players are allowed a 10 minute
cooling off period in the locker room
following a game before reporters are
let in. This time is used to either be
praised or chewed out by the coach.
Not to shower.
It was once
suggested that the players be allowed
to shower and get dressed before
being interviewed.
The problem
with that bright idea was that after
showering and dressing most players,
especially following a loss, high
tailed it out of the stadium.
In
addition allowing that much time for
players cut into reporters deadline
time, especially following a night
game.
The only solution is to
build special rooms designated for
player interviews. Such a system
wouldn't be unlike the typical press
conference seen which follows Super
Bowls and another big sporting
event. And for those team owners
who would complain about the costs.
If you can build your multi-million
dollar sky boxes then you can build
interview rooms.
portktnd fcraáü blazer/
IT
TRAIL BLAZER TICKETS AVAILABLE
The Portland Trail Blazers have announced that tickets to the preseason games
on October 16th and October 27th at Memorial Coliseum can be purchased at
G.l. Joe’s TicketMaster outlets and the Memorial Coliseum box office. Available
tickets include paired seats usually set aside for special group sections during
the regular season and scattered singles.
A limited number of tickets will also be available for regular season Blazer
games. Regular season tickets will go on sale beginning October 26th.
BLITZ-WEINHARD BEGINS REFILLING
BOTTLES THROUGHOUT THE
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
DANIELS STARS
FOR DAVID DOUGLAS
that goes with them.
The decision to extend refilling into
other states follows a promising start with
refilling in Washington, according to com­
pany President Bruce Vaughan. Returns are
now averaging 20.4 percent, encouraging
for a program that is still in the start-up
phase,he said.
To further stimulate the return of bottles,
the brewery announced plans today to begin
paying consumers in Washington, Montana
and Idaho a minimum of 50 cents a case for
Henry Weinhard- and Rainicr-brand bottles
returned to recyclers, distributors and a new
redemption center being opened in Seattle
Monday. The center will be operated by
Northwest Center Industries, an employ­
ment program for people with developmen­
tal disabilities. Information on all redemp­
tion locations is available by calling 1-800-
6-BOTTLE.
A1 Daniels is a shining Senior at
David Douglas High School this year.
He is known for his quick plays
as a Running Back. He is also known
for receiving the Outstanding Student
Award, Student of the Month, perfect
attendance the four years in High
School, Computers, Band, Track and
an active member at Emmanuel
Temple Church.
A1 is having a Spectacular year
and is to be commended for his dedi­
cation.
He is the son of Alfred Daniels (a
retired engineer for the government)
and Rosemary Daniels who is the
principal of Brooklyn School.
'ALL Ltf'E C
j OCED O ^ES A ^ E EAIÇEÏÏJ ’
You’ve just about given up!
You’ve tried the dating scene: night clubs, bars, social lounges.
All the prospects just were not what you were looking for in a
permanent relationship.
Please send me more information ana a membership packet. I don't want to let this
unique opportunity pass me by. I have enclosed $2.00 for shipping and handling.
Nam e:_____________________________________ Male___ Female
Address:
City/State/Zip:
I certify that I'm 21 years of age or older, single, and African American.
Si g natu re: _________________________________________________
African American Singles Network, P.O. Box 12514, Portland, OR 97212,
(503)293-7979
« J»,’
-, •
Players Have Right to Privacy in Locker
Roooms, Women Have Right to Report
Tony Hampton
■ ■
4