June 5, 1977: The Portland Trail Blazers and the Philadelphia 76ers take the court for Game 6 of the NBA Finals. One team can win their 1st title, a very improbable one. The other can force a Game 7, and build on an established legacy of greatness for their city.
The 76ers had been the Syracuse Nationals, arriving in 1963, a year after the Philadelphia Warriors moved to San Francisco. They won the NBA Championship in 1967, and remained a Playoff team through 1971. Then they crashed and burned, and their 1972-73 team had the worst record in NBA history, 9-73.
They rebuilt, and were back in the Playoffs in 1976. Then they acquired the best player in the newly-folded American Basketball Association, Julius Erving. They also acquired possibly the 2nd-best ABA player, George McGinnis. Erving, a.k.a. "Dr. J," with his smooth moves, spectacular dunks and strong defense, led them to 50 wins, the Atlantic Division title, and Playoff series wins over the defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics (always the arch-rival of any NBA team from Philadelphia) and the Houston Rockets, returning to the NBA Finals after 10 years.
The Blazers were an expansion team in 1970, the 1st major league sports team in the City of Portland, or even in the State of Oregon. This was a great growth period for the Pacific Northwest: The NBA had already added the Seattle SuperSonics in 1967, Major League Baseball tried the Seattle Pilots in 1969 before moving them to become the Milwaukee Brewers the next year, and the NHL established the Vancouver Canucks for the 1970-71 season.
The Blazers' star player was a Princeton graduate named Geoff Petrie. Their 1st season wasn't that bad, 29-53. For comparison's sake, look at the other 2 teams brought into the league that season: The Cleveland Cavaliers not only lost to the Blazers' in both teams' debut, but lost their 1st 15 regular-season games, en route to a 15-67 finish; while the Buffalo Braves finished 22-60.
Under an ownership group led by Larry Weinberg, general manager Harry Glickman slowly built a better team. In 1971, he drafted guard Larry Steele from Kentucky. In 1972, he drafted center Lloyd Neal from Tennessee State. And in 1974, with the 1st pick in the NBA Draft, he chose a 6-foot-11 center from San Diego: Bill Walton.
Walton had played at UCLA under legendary coach John Wooden, who kept a tight leash on his players. When Wooden showed up for the first preseason practice with long hair and a beard, against rules, and told Wooden he wasn't going to a barber, Wooden told Walton he respected him for standing up for his principles. And then he said, "I'm sorry to see you go." In other words, Walton had the right to have long hair and a beard, or the right to play for Wooden, but not both.
Walton got the haircut and the shave, and led UCLA to the National Championship in 1972 and 1973, but they lost in the Semifinal of the NCAA Tournament in 1974. The Blazers drafted him, and he made up for lost time, growing his hair long even by rock star standards, growing the beard, and wearing a headband. Between his hair, beard, the red Blazers road uniform and his naturally pale skin, he looked like the reddest human being on the planet.
He may also have been the most injured athlete on the planet. In high school, he broken bones in his feet, his ankle, and his leg, and had knee surgery, essentially missing his sophomore year. In the 1973 NCAA Tournament Final, in which he had gone 21-for-22 on shots, he injured his knee and his ankle on the same play, forcing him to leave the game with 3 minutes to play. In 1974, he hurt his back, and he said it contributed to the end of UCLA's record 88-game winning streak and its loss to North Carolina State in the NCAA Tournament Semifinal.
And his first two seasons included twice breaking his wrist, dislocated two fingers, sprained an ankle, broke one toe and dislocated two others, and injured his leg in a jeep accident. He played in only 35 games in 1974-75, and 51 in 1975-76. If only he could stay healthy for most of a season, and then the Playoffs...
Glickman kept building the Blazers. In 1975, he drafted guard Lionel Hollins from Arizona State, and tough forward Bob Gross from Long Beach State. He also signed forward Robin Jones. After the 1975-76 season, despite his popularity, Glickman traded Petrie to the Atlanta Hawks for the 2nd pick in the ABA Disperal Draft, which he used to select forward Maurice Lucas. He also traded for guards Johnny Davis and Herm Gilliam and forward David "Corky" Calhoun. He drafted forward Wally Walker from Virginia. That's the University of Virginia, not the Virginia Squires. Guard Dave Twardzik, who got around the court so much, his nickname was "Pinball," played for the Squires, and Glickman signed him as a free agent.
Now, with Lucas and Gross, the Blazers had sledgehammers to go with stylists Hollins, Davis and Twardzik. And, of course, they had Walton, who was both. It was a deep team, allowing it to be a well-rested team, and there were no major weaknesses -- presuming, that is, Walton could stay healthy.
Lucas was the key. Walton would recall Lucas walking up to him in the locker room before games, and saying, "Who do you want me to kill tonight?" More often than not, the player Walton named would get shut down by Lucas.
More importantly, for that season, Glickman hired Jack Ramsay as head coach. He had been the head coach at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, then the general manager of the '67 76ers, then the Sixers' coach, and then the Braves' coach. Having received a doctorate of education from the University of Pennsylvania -- in Philadelphia, even the Ivy League school is tough -- and was known as "Dr. Jack." He was seen as the right man to take the Blazers to the next level.
Walton played 65 of a possible 82 games in 1976-77. The Blazers thrilled their fans, who plowed into the Portland Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 12,880 fans every night, and the team never played to an unsold seat until moving into their larger arena, now known as the Moda Center, in 1995. Riding "Blazermania," the team finished 49-33, to be seeded 3rd in the Western Conference Playoffs.
They beat the Chicago Bulls, 2 games to 1; then beat the Denver Nuggets, the strongest team to emerge from the ABA-NBA merger, 4 games to 2; and then swept the Los Angeles Lakers in 4 straight, a series punctuated by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar suffering a rare "in-your-face disgrace" dunk from Walton. After 6 seasons of not having reached the Playoffs at all, the Blazers had reached the NBA Finals in Year 7, and would face the 76ers.
The 1st 2 games were played at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Erving scored 33 in Game 1, and the Sixers won, 107-101. They also won Game 2, 107-89. This was the 31st season of NBA play, and only once so far had a team dropped the 1st 2 games of the Finals and gone on to win: The 1969 Celtics.
The action shifted across the continent to Portland. The Blazers took over the series, winning Game 3, 129-107; and Game 4, 130-98. They carried that momentum back to Philadelphia in Game 5, winning, 110-104.
Game 6 was played before a raucous crowd at the Coliseum. At first, it looked easy, as the Blazers led by 15 at the half. But Erving went on a tear, scoring 40 points, and the 76ers took the lead in the dying minutes. It went back and forth, but Walton ended up making the difference, with 20 points, 23 rebounds, 7 assists, and especially with 8 blocked shots. With 5 seconds left, the Blazers led, 109-107.
Lloyd Free, who would later take his nickname, "All-World," and use it as the basis to legally change his name to World B. Free, inbounded the ball. He got the ball to McGinnis, who put up a jumper. He missed, and every other player, including Lloyd, rushed to get the rebound. Walton got to it, and slapped it away, allowing the clock to run out.
The Portland Trail Blazers were World Champions, and the crowd rushed the court. Walton threw his jersey into the crowd. Lucas said, "If I had caught the shirt, I would have eaten it. Bill's my hero." Erving called Walton "an inspiration." The NBA called him the Most Valuable Player of the Finals.
It was only the 7th season of play for the Blazers, and it remains the only World Championship ever won by an Oregon team. The Blazers have since won the Western Conference title in 1990 and 1992, and reached the Conference Finals as recently as 2000. The Portland Timbers won the MLS Cup in 2015. The Portland Thorns won the National Women's Soccer League title in 2013 and 2017. (UPDATE: They won again in 2022.)
The Walter Brown Trophy, named for the late owner of the Boston Celtics, was given to the NBA Champions for the last time. That trophy, like the Stanley Cup, was meant to be held by the winning team only for one year. The new World Championship Trophy was also given to the Blazers, meant to be kept forever. In 1984, when NBA Commissioner Larry O'Brien, who awarded it, retired from his office, giving way to David Stern, the trophy was renamed the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy.
In the locker room, Ramsay -- who had previously coached Wilt Chamberlain, mind you -- said, "I've never coached a better player, I've never coached a better competitor, and I've never coached a better person than Bill Walton."
Ramsay (blue shirt), Walton (towel), and Larry O'Brien (gray suit)
The Blazers kept going in the 1977-78 season, winning 50 of their 1st 60 games. Walton was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player. He, Lucas and Hollins were named to the All-Defensive First Team, while Gross was named to the All-Defensive Second Team. From March 29, 1977 to February 28, 1978, counting the 1977 Playoffs, the Portland Trail Blazers went 70-15, a winning percentage of .823. It was as good a performance as any NBA team has ever had.
But 13 minutes into their February 28 game, a 113-92 win over the Sixers at the Coliseum, Walton suffered a broken bone in his foot. He did not play again until the 1st Round of the Playoffs, and only in the 1st 2 games of the Round, as his foot injury caused a broken bone in his ankle. The Blazers ended up losing to their geographic rivals, the Seattle SuperSonics, in 6 games.
Like the Chicago Bears, and the New York Mets, who would both win titles in calendar year 1986, the 1977 and '78 Portland Trail Blazers were a team that looked like it would dominate for years to come, turned into "a dynasty of one." The breakup was on: During the off-season, Walton demanded to be traded, citing unethical and incompetent treatment of his and other players' injuries by the Blazers' front office. He did not get his wish, and sat out the entire 1978-79 season, seeing his contract out.
Gilliam had already retired after the 1977 title. Jones was immediately traded to the Houston Rockets, Walker to the Sonics. After the 1977-78 season, Davis and Calhoun were traded to the Indiana Pacers. Neal retired in 1979. In 1980, Twardzik (due to injury, only 29 years old), Steele and Calhoun retired, and Lucas was traded to the New Jersey Nets, and Hollins was traded to the 76ers. Gross was traded in until 1982. It would be 1983 before the Blazers won another Playoff round, and 1990 before they returned to the NBA Finals. As of the 2021-22 season, the 1977 title remains their only one.
Jones retired in 1982, Gross in 1983, Hollins in 1985, Davis in 1986, and Lucas in 1988, having returned to the Blazers for 1 last season. Davis went into coaching, and served as head coach of the 76ers, the Orlando Magic, and the Memphis Grizzlies. Hollins also went into coaching, and was an assistant to Paul Westphal on the 1993 Western Conference Champion Phoenix Suns. In 2009, he succeeded Davis has head coach of the Grizzlies, and later was head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, and won another ring as an assistant on the 2020 Lakers.
Twardzik was hired by the Blazers' front office, was an assistant coach for the Pacers, and served as general manager of the Golden State Warriors. As director of player personnel for the Orlando Magic, he helped build a team that won the 2009 Eastern Conference Championship. He went back to his Alma Mater, Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and became their basketball team's broadcaster.
And Walton, the marquee player? signed with the Braves, who had moved to his hometown, and become the San Diego Clippers. Due to injuries, he played 14 games for them in 1979-80, missed 1980-81 completely, and missed 1981-82 completely. Between the ages of 26 and 30, what should have been his peak years, he played a total of 14 games.
He played 33 games in 1982-83, with Blazer teammate Gross joining him; and 55 games in 1983-84. That would be the Clips' last season in San Diego: They moved to Los Angeles, and Walton played a career-high 67 games in 1984-85.
He was traded to the Boston Celtics for Cedric Maxwell and a draft pick. With Kevin McHale wearing Number 32, Walton added 3+2 and began wearing Number 5. Being used by head coach K.C. Jones as a backup to Hall-of-Famer Robert Parish, giving him an average of 19.3 minutes per game, an early version of what would later become known as "load management," Walton was able to be available for all 80 regular-season games.
The Celtics won the title, and, given that Walton played only 10 games in 1986-87, missed 1987-88 completely, and then retired, that 1985-86 season probably made the difference between Walton being considered the great lost opportunity in basketball history, and being elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. He went on to be named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players, and its 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players.
Bill Walton was under contract to one NBA team or another for 14 seasons, from 1974 to 1988. Out of a possible 1,148 regular-season games, he played in 468 -- about 5.7 seasons' worth, or 40.7 percent of the possible games. To put that in perspective, with the players in their respective sports most often identified with injuries: In baseball, Mickey Mantle played in 84.6 percent; in football, Joe Namath played in 76.9 percent; and, in hockey, Bobby Orr played in 70.3. In other words, Walton made the Mick, Broadway Joe and Orr look healthy. He would say, "Minor surgery is what they do to somebody else."
On a 1996 ESPN special about the greatest teams in NBA history, Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe said that Walton was "the most influential player ever to lace up a pair of sneakers." That was ridiculous, and partly colored by the fact that Walton stayed healthy long enough to be a key reserve on Ryan's favorite team of all time, the 1985-86 Celtics.
But, with considerably more credibility, Ryan also said that the 1977 Trail Blazers were "the greatest what-if story in the history of basketball." He said that if they'd stayed healthy, and stayed together, they could have won 3 out of 4 titles, and even 4 out of 6.
It could have been even better than that: Given the fact that the Seattle SuperSonics, winners of the Western Conference in 1978 and the NBA title of 1979, had no players chosen for the NBA's 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams, and that the Houston Rockets only went 40-42 when they won the West in 1981, there was a good chance that, at the very least, they would have won the West 4 out of 5 seasons before the Los Angeles Lakers of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson all but locked the Conference down.
Walton, who lived his first 28 years with a stutter so bad that he hated giving interviews, went into broadcasting. CBS hired him for its college basketball coverage. In 1991, and again in 2001, he won an Emmy Award for it. He would announce for several networks, often showing up wearing not a suit, but a tie-dyed T-shirt, in connection with his fandom for rock band The Grateful Dead. (They nicknamed him "Grateful Red.")
Julius Erving and Bill Walton, 2021
He named his son Luke after Maurice Lucas. Luke played for the Lakers, winning NBA Championships in 2009 and 2010. He won another in 2015, as an assistant coach for the Warriors, and later was head coach of the Lakers and the Sacramento Kings.
Herm Gilliam died in 2005, Maurice Lucas in 2010, Dr. Jack Ramsay in 2014, Robin Jones in 2018, Larry Weinberg in 2019, Harry Glickman in 2020 (not from COVID). As of June 5, 2022, the rest of the '77 Blazers are still alive.
UPDATE: Bill Schonely died in 2023. Bill Walton died in 2024.
As of the 2025-26 season, the Portland Trail Blazers do not have a team Hall of Fame. They have, however, retired a large number of uniform numbers, 10, for 11 individuals:
* From their founding era, 1970-76: 45, for guard Geoff Petrie.
* From their 1977 NBA Champions: 13, for guard Dave Twardzik; 14, for guard Lionel Hollins; 15, for guard Larry Steele; 20, for forward Maurice Lucas; 30, for forward Bob Gross; 32, for center Bill Walton; 36, for forward Lloyd Neal; and 77, representing the year of the title, for head coach Jack Ramsay.
* From their 1990 and 1992 NBA Western Conference Championships: 22, for guard Clyde Drexler; and 30 again, for guard Terry Porter.
* In addition, they have raised a banner with a microphone on it, for 1970-1998 broadcaster Bill Schonely; and for founding owner Larry Weinberg. It has the Number 1 on it, but 1 remains in circulation, available to be worn by a Blazers player.
Although his Number 11 has not been retired, Lithuanian center Arvydas Sabonis, who became world famous for playing on the Soviet Union's national team in the 1980s, played for the Blazers from 1995 to 2003, and is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, along with Walton, Drexler, Ramsay, and Rick Adelman, who coached them to their 1990 and '92 Finals appearances.
Petrie, Twardzik, Lucas, Walton, Drexler, Porter, 1980s guard Jim Paxson, 1980s and '90s forward Jerome Kersey, and 2000s guard Damon Stoudamire have been elected to the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
*
June 5, 1977 was a Sunday. Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup had been decided on May 14, when the Montreal Canadiens swept the Boston Bruins in the Finals. And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Yankee starter Gil Patterson didn't get out of the 2nd inning. This was only the 8th major league appearance of his career, and he made just 2 more.
But the Yankees got home runs from Reggie Jackson, Graig Nettles, Thurman Munson, Carlos May, Bucky Dent and George Zeber, a highly-touted prospect who never panned out. This made a winning pitcher out of Dick Tidrow.
* The New York Mets swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5 and 3-2 at Shea Stadium. In the opener, Bob Apodaca gave up a tying home run to Tim McCarver in the 9th inning. But he ended up as the winning pitcher, anyway, because, in the bottom of the 10th, with John Stearns at bat, Tom Underwood threw a wild pitch that scored John Milner.
In the nightcap, Craig Swan outpitched Jim Kaat. Dave Kingman drove in all of the Mets' runs with a home run in the 4th inning. Over the 2 games, Mike Schmidt went 0-for-8 with a walk.
* The Montreal Expos beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 10-9 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Willie McCovey did not play.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-4 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Willie Stargell went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 10-4 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Gary Nolan outpitched J.R. Richard. Johnny Bench hit 2 home runs and had 5 RBIs, and Joe Morgan hit 1 and had 3 RBIs. Pete Rose went 3-for-4.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of
Bloomington, Minnesota. Carl Yastrzemski hit a home run. Rod Carew went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Brooks Robinson, in his final season, went 0-for-2 with a walk before being removed for a pinch-hitter. Eddie Murray, in his Rookie of the Year season, went 1-for-4.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Gaylord Perry outpitched Jim Slaton. Tom Grieve hit a home run. Sal Bando, Cecil Cooper, Charlie Moore hit them for the Brewers. Robin Yount went 1-for-4.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-3 at the Oakland Coliseum.
* The California Angels beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-1 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 4-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Dave Winfield went 0-for-2 with 3 walks.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle.
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