M ARTIN L UTHER K ING J R .
Page 32
2015 special edition
January 14, 2015
S PORTS
His Mantra was Hope
and Opportunity
Basketball court
named to honor
Harold Williams
O LIVIA O LIVIA
T HE P ORTLAND O BSERVER
The memory of a community
leader is very alive today at the
Portland Community College. The
college’s board of directors last
November approved a resolution
supported by PCC President Dr.
Jeremy Brown along with Dr. Karin
Edwards, the current president of
the PCC Cascade campus, to re-
name the campus’s basketball court
in honor of former director Harold C.
Williams Sr.
In the course of his more than
four decades in public life in Port-
BY
land, the late civic leader was a
staunch advocate of extending
hope and opportunity through edu-
cation to the people of north and
northeast Portland, especially his
African-American community.
Having served on the PCC board
for more than 20 years – from 1991 to
2012 – Williams was a champion of
the transformative power of educa-
tion, particularly for people from
underrepresented and disadvan-
taged backgrounds.
When PCC passed the first of
two bond measures to expand col-
lege facilities in 1992, Williams led
the effort to support growth on the
Cascade Campus so that the tradi-
tionally underserved populations
could have a strong, comprehen- The basketball court at Portland Community College’s Cascade Camus has been named in honor
of the late Harold C. Williams Sr., a champion for advancing education to serve Portland’s African-
continued
on page
American community.
Neil Olshey
Blazers GM Contract Extended
The Portland Trail Blazers have
signed General Manager Neil Olshey
to a multi-year contract extension,
team owner Paul Allen announced
Thursday. Olshey has also been
named President of Basketball Op-
erations.
“Our team has made great strides
under Neil’s leadership, and I am
excited to extend his contract,” said
Allen. “Neil has done an outstand-
ing job as General Manager by
quickly rebuilding our team into a
playoff contender. The franchise is
clearly on the upswing, and I hope
to see further improvements in the
years to come.”
Olshey came to the Blazers from
the Los Angeles Clippers in 2012.
He finished third in NBA Executive
of the Year voting after the Trail
Blazers finished 54-28 last season –
the largest improvement in franchise
history and sixth-best record all-
time.
The Trail Blazers won their first
NBA Playoff series in 14 years, de-
feating the Houston Rockets in six
games before bowing out to the
eventual 2013-14 NBA Champion
San Antonio Spurs in the Western
Conference Semifinals.