A true pro -- Terry Porter helps out in a big way on a book-signing night at Moda Center
Terry makes the day for a couple of delighted Blazer fans (courtesy Tony Wecker/Trail Blazers)
Terry Porter and I go back a long way.
Terry was an All-Star point guard when I first covered the Trail Blazers for The Oregonian. He was kind enough to make an appearance at a Sportswriters Camp for aspiring journalists that Dwight Jaynes and I ran for seven years in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. I was privileged to represent the Professional Basketball Writers Association in presenting him with the NBA’s J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award for the 1992-93 season.
Terry Porter with Kerry Eggers (left) and Dwight Jaynes during an appearance at a Sportswriters Camp in the early 1990s.
When I asked him to write the foreword for the biography of his former teammate and close friend Jerome Kersey (Jerome Kersey: Overcoming the Odds), Terry did a fantastic job. He did it again when I asked him to participate in a book-signing event at Moda Center before and at halftime of the Blazers-Pistons game Tuesday night. Terry did not just show up. He engaged with people. He called everyone by name (after he saw me write the name in the book). He agreed to a photo with every single fan who wanted one — even suggesting it at times. He signed every last book we had, the final one going to a very pleased fan with seven minutes left in the game.
Eggers and Porter (courtesy Tony Wecker/Trail Blazers)
It was so great to see the love and affection from the fans who adored him when he played for the Blazers. It was just as great to see how Terry reacted with each of them, going out of his way to make their day. Talk about a true pro who really gets it.
On the Jumbotron during a timeout in the second quarter, the Blazers played a highlight video of Porter during his playing days and then introduced him to the crowd. He was greeted by a rousing standing ovation. Even a grizzled sportswriter got a lump in his throat.
For the PBWA, Eggers presents Porter with the NBA’s J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 1992-93.
Terry’s participation was based in no small part to his knowledge that all net proceeds from the book will go to the Jerome Kersey Scholarship Fund at his alma mater — Longwood University in Farmville, Va. Thanks to you, Terry, for your contributions to the project. And thanks to the many fans who stopped by to purchase a book on a very memorable night.
Jay Allen conducted an interview with Terry and Kerry that ran on the Trail Blazers pregame radio show Tuesday night:
