In memory of the Schonz, let’s find a home for the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame

The Schonz would have been 94 in June 1

June 1 would have been Bill Schonely’s 94th birthday.

In recent years, we always got together for lunch on that date, or near it, to celebrate his birthday.

“Can’t believe I’m still alive,” the Schonz would say in the years after he became a nonagenarian.

And now, it’s hard to believe he is gone.

The legendary Trail Blazers broadcaster, who died on Jan. 21, had a larger-than-life quality to him.

I spoke via phone last night with his son, Rick Schonely, who misses him even more than I do.

Rick told me that a generous portion of his father’s estate will go to the Providence Child Center Foundation of Portland. That didn’t surprise me a bit.

Bill contributed much time and effort to various charities through the years, but Providence Child Center was clearly his favorite. He served on the foundation board for more than 20 years. In 1998, Bill received the Providence “Heart of Gold” award for his advocacy. In 2009, Providence established the “Bill’s Kids” fund in honor of his 80th birthday. Since its creation, Bill helped raise millions of dollars through the fund to support the center and the Center for Medically Fragile Children.

Rick also told me that two of Bill’s prized possessions — his 1977 NBA championship ring and the ring commemorating the Curt Gowdy Award he was awarded during the 2012 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony in Springfield, Mass. — will go to the state of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.

Bill Schonely and his 1977 NBA championship ring

Through the years, Rick told his dad the only thing Rick wanted when Bill died was the championship ring.

“Nope,” Bill would joke, “I’m going to be buried with it on my finger.”

“I’m going to steal it,” Rick would joke back, “before you get the chance to.”

Truth be told, Rick is pleased with his father’s decision.

“I think it’s the right place for those rings to be displayed,” Rick says.

“I am in receipt of a letter from a law firm representing the estate with commitment that the two rings have been bequeathed to us,” says Mike Rose, a member of the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame’s board of directors and induction ceremony chairman. “They have one in their safe and are awaiting delivery of the other one.”

Therein, however, lies a problem.

It has been years since the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame has had a physical building in which to display its terrific collection of artifacts from the state’s outstanding sports history.

For years, it was housed between 3rd and 4th avenues on SW Salmon in downtown Portland, on the ground floor of the Standard Insurance parking structure. There were regular hours, public events held there and admission charged to visitors.

In recent years, the collection — valued at near $2 million — has been headquartered in a physical structure in Beaverton. Funds from a charity bingo operation helped pay the lease. No regular hours were kept, though individuals and groups could come by and look at the collection upon request.

Then the building ownership sold to a developer, who built an apartment and condo complex.

Now the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame collection — featuring such items as Terry Baker’s Heisman Trophy, a life-sized Bill Walton statue, Steve Prefontaine running shoes — is stored in a secured, climate-controlled warehouse in the Portland area.

There is no money to pay for a physical structure in which to display the thousands of artifacts that tell the story of Oregon’s sports history.

“That is indeed what we would like,” Rose says. “But no offers to help are on the table at this time.”

Consider this an appeal for a benefactor or business to step up and provide a room or building or some sort of physical structure to keep this hallowed collection from gathering dust in storage.

If not in Portland, there must be a facility in Gresham or Beaverton or Hillsboro or Wilsonville that could be used for such a purpose. Securing a title sponsor — the “Columbia Sportswear Oregon Sports Hall of Fame,” for instance — would be a win-win proposition.

The Schonz would have supported such an endeavor. In his memory, let’s make it happen.

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