Page B6
®he Jîorttanô (©beeruer
celebrates Black History Month
Februaiy 19, 2003
S ports
Former Blazer Finds Basketball After Basketball
Mike Harper
coaches the game
he loves and seeks
family happiness
Bv D avid P lechl
T he P ortland O bserver
When Harper was dunking on
opponents, his size was his great
est asset. But sometimes off the
court, it proved to be a weakness.
“I was always hitting my head,”
said Harper.
So when he moved into a new
southwest Portland office he had
custom seven-foot door frames in
stalled that give his towering frame
a little more head room.
The former Trailblazer has been
selling insurance for 13 years. It
seemed like a natural transition af
ter playing pro ball.
“I figured business ownership
would allow me to be successful
but still have enough time for family
and community life," said Harper.
Above his desk is a picture of
photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
him from his college days when his
team won three NCAA divison 3 Former Portland Trail Blazer Mike Harper coaches the junior varsity girl's team at Franklin High
championships. Harper is coming School. He is also a Seventh grade girl's basketball coach at Rosemont Ridge in West Linn.
W oods
Scores
D e cisiv e
W in
Tiger Woods watches as he
narrowly misses a birdie putt
on the f f n hole during the
final round o f the Buick
Invitational In San Diego
Sunday. It was one of the
few shots that didn't go his
way. Woods four shot victory
was the first since being o ff
for 2 months following knee
surgery.
Peninsula
Little League
Softball and Baseball
Signups Ages 5 to 18
in for a dunk and seems propelled
“They make me want to coach
by some unseen force.
basketball," he said. "The kids seem
“Once upon a time. I could fly,” to want to learn.”
Harper said gleefully.
Harper even spends his sum
Harper now puts in a lot of time mers coaching at Self Enhancement,
at the office, but he isn’t about to Inc., a north and northeast center
give up basketball. In fact. Harper is for kids.
practically addicted to coaching the
Each summer, he gets his play
game he loves.
ing fix by joining his old teammates
Splitting his time between the in the Blazer Reunion Game as a
benefit for local charities.
“We made a good living but it’s
still important for us to give back,”
said Harper.
Harper’s happy, up-beat attitude
is
something
he extends to every
- Former Portland Trail Blazer
facet
of
his
life.
With three daugh
M ike Harper.
ters and a son, he needs the energy.
Harper takes his daughter to
junior varsity girl' s team at Franklin games and his son is scorekeeper for
and 7th grade g ir l’s team at his Rosemont Ridge team. He feels
Rosemont Ridge in W est Linn, it’s important to include children in
Harper said he enjoys the opportu his life daily. Basketball just hap
nity to help the girls become better pens to be the most available way.
athletes, basketball players and
“I guess it’s a selfish way to keep
people.
them close to m e,” said Harper.
“I have the opportunity to help
Is there anything in this former
the girls be the best they can be,” he Trailblazer’s life that doesn’t re
said.
volve around basketball?
Harper finds inspiration in the
Harper flashed his trademark grin
girls’ willingness to try and try and smiled widely.
again.
“Nothing,” he answered happily.
Once upon a
time, I could fly.
I
Blazers Muscle Wins After All Star Slump
( AP) — The All-Star break let
down is over for the Portland Trail
Blazers.
After two post-break losses and
a hard-fought win over rival Se
attle, the Blazers unraveled their
knots in a 99-91 victory over the
Ne w York Knicks on Monday night.
Rasheed W allace scored 23
points and the Blazers got key con
tributions from big man Arvydas
Sabonis and reserve forward Ruben
Patterson.
“This was a good showing of
what we can do if we all play to
gether," Bonzi Wells said.
Portland fiddled with com bina
tions down the stretch, but seemed New York Knick Othella Harrington 's shot (left) is blocked by the
(AP photo)
to have the most success with their Blazers ' Rasheed Wallace.
Register at Peninsula Park Community Center, 700 N. Portland
BI vd. on Saturday, Feb. 22 from 9 a.m. to noon or at B and B
T-shirts and More, 204 N. Killingsworth, Monday-Friday,
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. or Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Tryouts rain or shine on Saturday, Feb. 22 from 10 a.m. to
noon at Peninsula Park
I
7-foot-3 Lithuanian center in the
lineup.
Arvitis Sabonis, who returned
to the Blazers this season after tak
ing last year off, pulled off a perfect
behind-the-back pass to Derek
Anderson, who hit a 3-pointer to
makeit91-81 with4:55 left.
“His touch is unbelievable," New
Y ork’s Thomas said.
Sabonis finished with 10 points,
as did Patterson. Zach Randolph
came off the bench to score eight
points in 12 minutes.
Portland, which defeated the
Knicks 92-89 at Madison Square
Garden earlier this season, has won
four of the last five against New
York.
Second ‘Battle at the Beach’ Coming
Chinook Winds Casino and Con in the United States, sanctions the
vention Center presents “Battle at boxing extravaganza. Senior youth
the Beach II,” Olympic Style Ama boxers, including some Olympic
teur Boxing, on March 7.
hopefuls, from the age of 11 and up,
USA Boxing, the national gov will be featured at this event. The
erning body for all amateur boxing fight card is nearly set for ten bouts
of three to four rounds with the
rounds being one or two minutes
each.
For more information and to ob
tain tickets, call 1-888-624-6228 or
Fastixx at 1 -800-992-8499.