'Duck' had his day

In 2002 Tribune story, former Blazer center showed his love for animals, woodworking and Portland

By Kerry Eggers

The Portland Tribune, Aug 26, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

Kevin Duckworth feeds an antelope at his Oregon City home in 2002. The former Blazer center died Monday, Aug. 25, in Lincoln City at age 44.

JIM CLARK / TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO

(Editor's note: This story appeared in the Portland Tribune on April 5, 2002. Duckworth died Monday, Aug. 25 in Lincoln City. See separate story at www.portlandtribune.com)

OREGON CITY — Welcome to the “Duckworth Ranch” — it says so on the sign hanging above the workshop on a 4-acre spread in the great beyond of Clackamas County.

As you drive up, you see the pair of wallabies, junior members of the kangaroo family. Then you meet a 3-year-old cougar named Banjo, five antelope, an English mastiff named Cuko (a big sweetheart) and a Fila mastiff named Kona (who would tear a visitor from limb to limb, if only his master would let him out of the cage).

In the shop is the master, Kevin Duckworth himself, putting the finishing touches on an oak coffee table he will place in his living room. It is a labor of love for the former Trail Blazer center, once an industrial technology major at Eastern Illinois University.

Much of the furniture in the three-bedroom, split-level home that Duckworth shares with girlfriend Marlene Kanehailua — a member of the Blazer Dancers — is the result of his woodcraft. It includes two entertainment centers, a stereo center, several chests of drawers, couches and chairs, and poolroom benches that double as storage bins.

He even made wood picture frames to match the furniture. He is accomplished enough to go into business.

“I have talked about that with a friend,” Duckworth says, “but I have been so busy trying to finish up some work I am doing for other people.”

'I'M A BIG PERSON'

It’s been five years since Duckworth, 38, retired after 11 years in the NBA. He spent 6 1/2 of them in Portland, and they were the best years of his career. The 7-footer won the league’s Most Improved Player award in 1997-98, was twice an All-Star and an integral part of the early ’90s group of Blazers that twice made it to the NBA Finals and turned on an entire region of basketball fans.

Many former Trail Blazers have made their homes in the Portland area, but few have embraced it with the passion of Duckworth, both for the outdoor opportunities and the people. He has considered seeking employment with an NBA club in another city, “but I ain’t leaving Portland,” he says.

“I love it here. I don’t want to go nowhere else. Portland has everything I want. If I have to die somewhere, this will be it.”

“Duck” drives one of his three rigs — he owns a large diesel truck, a Ford Expedition and a souped-up 1971 Chevelle — into town maybe every other day, and he is still recognized.

“I laugh,” he says. “People are die-hard fans, I tell ya. Older ladies and kids, I just love them. They are so funny. They look at you and say, ‘Is that Kevin?’ I say, ‘Yeah, just a fatter version.’ ”

Duckworth is probably at least a C-note over his playing weight, which stretched from 280 to 300-plus. Always sensitive about the subject, he says only that he weighs “too much.”

“I am conscious of it now,” says Duckworth, who has built a workout room behind his shop and says he is on a program with free weights, StairMaster and treadmill to begin the long road toward getting back into shape.

“I’m a big person, and I was conscious of my weight for so long, after I retired, I was burnt out from people telling me about it. I took a break. I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to live and let it be the way it is going to be. When I get tired of it, I will get back in shape.’ Maybe it is a cop-out, but I needed the break.”

DUCK THE HUNTER

Duckworth shuffles away from the shop to check on his menagerie.

“I have always liked animals,” he says. “My mom will tell you stories about snakes in my pockets when she went to wash my pants. But I don’t want too many. I just want to have some pets, (few) enough for me to maintain and take care of everybody. I don’t want no petting zoo.”

In many ways, Duckworth was always just a big, lovable kid. He is still a guy who enjoys his toys and outdoor interests.

He loves to cruise the rural roads in his 1997 Yamaha Royal Star or take his ATV into the hills in pursuit of deer or elk.

Hunting is a passion. “I don’t shoot nothing that’s not edible or threatens me,” he says. “I don’t believe in shooting bears or cougars.

Hunting has “always been in my heart,’’ he says, “but basketball always came first. Once I stopped playing, it (hunting) was something I wanted to do.”

Three mounted buck heads decorate his study. On the living room wall is a collection of photos displaying his bounty, including pheasants and chukar, sailfish and marlin.

One photo shows Duckworth with a pair of fallen wild boar. “I shot one, and the other was coming, and I had to shoot it, too, or it would have gotten me,” he says.

Another picture features Duckworth with a small rifle in his hands and a big boar on the ground.

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