Class acts multiply this time of year

Fair Game

By kerry eggers

The Portland Tribune, Dec 7, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Former Beaver Kevin Gunderson pitched this year for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, part of the Atlanta Braves organization. He also suited up for the Braves during spring training.

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Some plaudits off the holiday plate … • Over the past dozen years, the Trail Blazers have fed thousands of homeless at their Thanksgiving-time Harvest Dinner. The event has evolved into a partnership with the city of Portland and Multnomah County and become a year-round effort to attack the homelessness problem.

Additional offerings this year included free haircuts and health screenings; resources for domestic violence, housing and tenant law; AIDS information and Veterans Affairs, individual and family support services; pet care; vision screenings; and wheelchair repair.

And every Blazer employee, including coach Nate McMillan and his players, serves as a volunteer for the event.

Pretty cool.

• Blazer players Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Steve Blake and James Jones signed autographs in exchange for food donations, and Greg Oden served at a breakfast to raise awareness for a Safeway/Tropicana drive that collected 50,000 pounds of nonperishable breakfast food items for the Oregon Food Bank three weeks ago.

Again, a great cause, especially at this time of year.

• Nike put up the $1.5 million for a state-of-the-art track and field video board at Hayward Field in Eugene, but for my money, the bigger contribution was Tinker Hatfield’s design.

It was a work of love for Hatfield, a rare talent who has designed most of the Air Jordans.

“I’m one of those kids who grew up in the mid-Willamette Valley and had always gone to Hayward Field for meets,” says Hatfield, a track star at Central Linn High who was an All-American pole vaulter at the U of O. “Now I coach kids who have gotten to compete there. It seems like a second home to me. To be able to give back and do something special for the future of Hayward Field, it’s a wonderful opportunity for me.

“And it’s a good thing from Nike’s perspective. In a way, Nike was born at Hayward Field.”

Amen.

• Another name of state-of-Oregon track and field note, Dick Fosbury has begun his four-year term as president of the World Olympians Association, the umbrella group for Olympians of all sports.

“It’s a huge honor and a real challenge,” says the former Oregon State high jumper, a 1968 Olympic champion and resident of Ketchum, Idaho. “My mission is to build the association and get all Olympians connected, so we can help develop and promote programs and activities that are in the Olympic spirit.”

Fosbury has been, as they say, spanning the globe in his pursuits.

In recent months, he has visited the Olympic museum and met with International Olympic Committee officials at Lausanne, Switzerland; met with Prince Albert, a staunch Olympic supporter, in Monaco; visited London to meet with officials working with the London 2012 movement; gave a speech at a Chicago Council on Global Affairs luncheon; attended U.S. Olympic Assembly meetings in Houston and spent time in Dubai for an IOC commission forum.

In a couple of weeks, he’ll go to Beijing to help with contractual arrangements for an Olympics Reunion Center. Whew!

“It’s very exciting,” Fosbury says, “and I’m hoping all the work will be productive. It’s not going to be easy, but I have received support globally from people willing to go to work and support me in these efforts.”

• Jonah Nickerson and Kevin Gunderson – both wintering in the Portland area – appear poised for steps up the minor league ladder in their respective organizations after successful 2007 seasons.

Nickerson, the College World Series MVP for Oregon State in 2006, was 12-7 with a 4.11 ERA in helping the Michigan Whitecaps to the Class A Midwest League championship.

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