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January 29, 1992...The Portland Observer...Page 5
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The Trail Blazers Are Half Way Home
Clyde Drexler
BY BILL BARBER
Congratulations to Clyde Drexler
on being named the starting guard of
the NBA Ail-Star game. W ith the NBA
season at the half way point, it looks as
if some o f the problem s experienced by
the Portland Trail Blazers are starting
to fade like the morning fog.
The average Blazer fan would
probably key in on the same tw o prob
lems when looking back at the early
part o f the season. First, the shooting
percentages we uncharacteristically low
for the same team that set its own
winning franchise record a year earlier.
It made a lot o f us think that the oppos
ing teams were sneaking into the C oli
seum early, so that they could siring
chicken wire over our baskets before
the game. The part we couldn’t figure
out was how they were able to wire the
basket on the other end o f the court at
halftime with over 12,000 o f us w atch
ing. The second problem that the Trail
Blazers have addressed in recent times
is that when they lake a leading score
into the last few minutes o f the game
they have been able to leave the build
ing with a new notch in the win column.
That was not the case earlier in the
season. Several limes they lost games
that seemed to be in the bag. The fact o f
losing all five o f those gam es in the last
few minutes has not escaped most
Portland fans. A lter all, if those games
had gone the other way, the Portland
Trail Blazers would be right where
they were last year at this time.
It is a good thing the home town
team has played such good defense this
year. Many fans think that the defense
has improved over last years team.
Admittedly the defensive game has to
pick up the slack when the ball is not
falling through the hoop. The encour
aging thing to note about the defense
going into the second half of the sea
son, is that it seem s to be holding up. At
this point in the season we are second in
the NBA in field goal defense! From
the floor the Blazers have only allowed
their opponents to hit on .445 o f their
shots. W hen you couple that with the
Blazers ability to control the boards by
having the highest rebounding percent
age in the league, you have to think
they arc in pretty good shape going into
the second half o f the season.
The team seems to be returning to
its true form. Coach Rick A delman hit
the nail on the head when he said “ We
have a lot o f the guys who are back in
the groove again, and we are pretty
m uch healthy. ’ ’ Decem ber was a rough
month with so many o f the players
hurling. Terry Porter continued to play
through a sprained left ankle, as did
Jerom e Kersey with daily treatments
on his sprained right ankle. Danny Ainge
was not 100 percent with his strained
right knee. Then Kevin Duckworth no
more than got healthy from a painful
groin pull when he injured his left
achillcs. They are all Professionals and
part of the job involves playing with
pain. For the most part, everyone seems
to be in good health as they pursue the
brass ring.
If things keep improving with the
Portland Trail Blazers, it is certainly
going to be a lot o f fun to be a basket
ball fan this spring.
Youth Basketball
Signups
On Februay 1, the NE Portland
Salvation Army will hold basketball
tryouts for its annual youth basketball
league. This program is open to boys
and girls 9-14 years of age and league
play begins February 8th.
Any players interested in playing,
please contact the NE Portland Salva
tion Army by phone at 282-2571, or
stop in and sign up.
If you have any questions, contact
Nate O wens or Derrick W illiams at the
Salvation Army, Monday-Friday after
5:00pm.
The Salem A rt Association is now
seeking applications from artists w ish
ing to participate in the 1992-1994 Arts
In Education Program (AIE).
A IE is a program o f the Oregon
Arts Com m ission providing arts educa
tion servies to schools, institutions and
community centers throughout the state.
The Salem A rt A ssociation regional
program serves M arion, Polk and
Yamhill counties. Residencies are
generally from one to three weeks at an
individual site and are funded equally
by the site and the Salem Art A ssocia
tion.
Participating artists must be pro
fessionally accomplished. Some expe
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Black Cultural
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Nikki
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Photo by Veronica Green ♦
Saturday, February 15, 1992
Smith Memorial Center
Ballroom 7:00pm
Artists’ Applications Sought
rience in an educational setting is pre
ferred. A pproxim ately 20 artists are
selected representing the visual, per
forming and literary arts. These artists
conduct residencies designed to en
hance existing school curiculum and
promote life-long learning in the arts.
Applications will be available in
early February at Salem Art Associa
tion, 600 Mission Street SE, Salem ,OR
97302, M id-Valley Arts Council, 265
Court Street NE, Salem, OR 97301. A
brief resum e, references, docum enta
tion o f work, plus a self-addressed,
stamped envelope for return of m ateri
als must accompany applications. Mail
or hand-deliver to the AIE Program,
P
Despite getting off to a slow start this season, Portland guard Terry
Porter is averaging 16.3 points and 6.2 assists per game. Porter also
leads the team in steals with 76.
Salem Art Association.
Deadline for submisssion is March
31, 1992.
poet, best-selling author,
The Portland Trail Blazers and the
Oregonian have initiated a new pro
gram to inspire and reward high school
sportswriters. The Northwest High
School Sportswriters Challenge has been
designed to recognize the top sports
writers in high schools throughout
Oregon and southwest Washington.
Students have the opportunity to cover
one of their high school’s boys or girls
basketball games and, if their story is
selected best in their school, have that
story judged by members of the sports
department staff at the Oregonian. While
all participants will have received rec
ognition for their efforts, ten finalists
will earn special honors. Three stu
dents will come to Portland to cover the
March 28 game between the Trail Blaz
ers and Houston Rockets, earning the
privilege of spending valuable learning
time with professional sportswriters, as
well as with the players and coaches.
Students, grade nine through twelve
currently working for their school news
paper, throughout the state o f Oregon
and Clark, Cowlitz, Skamania, Klickitat,
and activist. Tickets are
available
283-0348
at
Portland
State’s Ticket office, $7
BB#9291
Financing Available
General, $5 Students. A
reception and book sign
T T
ing will follow at 9:00 pm
in the Cascade Room.
Co-sponsored by Diversity
Coordinating Committee
and Women’s Union. For
more
information
call
Pacific and W ahkiakum counties in
W ashington state are eligible to partici
pate. Advisors may also solicit entries
from interested students not currently
on the newspaper staff in addition to
staff writers.
The program is running from Janu
ary 13 through February 17. Partici
pants must cover one o f their school’s
boys or girls basketball games during
that period. Schools will select one
winning entry and the journalism advi
sor will forward that entry to the Trail
Blazers so that it is received no later
than February 27. W inners will be noti
fied the w eek o f March 16.
Many of the top sportswriters in the
journalism field began their careers at
the high school level writing for school
newspapers. The writers, columnists and
editors of tomorrow are honing their
skills today in our region’s schools. The
Oregonian and Trail Blazers recognize
that these students sometimes need special
incentive to reach their potential. This
program is intended to assist by provid
ing incentive to these students.
BCAB at 725-5660.
I
Most Donors Ever Give Blood in King’s Honor
The fourth annual American Red
Cross, A lbina Ministerial Alliance-
sponsored King Memorial Blood Drive
resulted in the collections of 52 pints of
blood, the most ever given in Dr. King’s
honor.
According to Volunteer Blood Drive
Chairm an, Charles Stoudamire, Red
Cross Safety and Health Education di
rector, the event, which was held on
K ing’s birthday rather than on the fed
eral holiday, was successful in a num
ber o f ways.
‘ ‘O ur goal was not just to collect 50
units o f blood,” explained Stoudanr.re.
“ W e hoped to draw new donors, par
ticularly African Americans, into the
blood system: We achieved this goal.
More than half of our donors were people
Mr. Lee and Staff
Welcome All
Free Parking
Phone (503) 282-4989
of color.”
Additionally, 13 people from multi
cultural backgrounds joined the Na
tional Marrow Donor Registry. This is
critical to patients because a person of a
specific ethnic group is more likely to
find a tissue match from people of the
ethnic background.
Pacific Northwest Regional Blood
Services’ donor base o f 270,000 is made
up o f less than one percent African
Americans. Multi-cultural represetation
on the National Bone Marrow Registry
3827 N.E. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Hours: Sun 10:00 am • 8:00 pm ■ Mon-Sat 8:30 am - 8:00 pm
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Bring in this AD and you will receive
Free Soap for the month of February
is also low.
“ Red Cross must adequately rep
resent the diversity of patients poten-
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Bishop Wells, president o f Albina Ministerial Alliance, goes through the
health history screening process before donating blood at the AMA-Fted
Cross King Memorial Blood Drive. Wells was one o f 52 blood donors.
tially needing life-sustaining blood and
blood products,” said Stoudamire.
“ Different groupsof people have differ
ent blood types. About 20 percent o f all
black Americans have type B blood
compared to about 10 percent o f white
Americans. Almost tw ice as many black
Americans need type B blood if they
have to be transfused.”
Blood donors who attended the birth
day celebration received refreshments
donated from area merchants, which
included Starbucks Coffee, Nabisco,
Helen Bernhard Bakery, N ature’s Fresh
Northwest, Doris Cafe, Ruth Ashbrook
Bakery, Portland Botding Com pany,
W onder Bread B akery, and Poppers Sup
ply. Donors also signed com m em orative
scrolls which Stoudam ire sent to Coretta
Scott King at the Center for Non-V iolent
Social Change in Atlanta, GA.
African Americans interested in
becoming blood or marrow donors can
call Red Cross, 284-4040 to schedule an
appointm ent or obtain additional infor
mation.
Portland Observer encourages our readers to write
letters to the editor in response to any articles
we publish.
Your Community Site For All Washing Needs.
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Portland Trail Blazers And The
Oregonian To Recognize Young
Sportswriters
Nikki Giovanni is a black
Vinyl Siding
Installed on Your Home
by Experts
Call ABS inc.
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