Do we know?

Duckworth was my very favorite when i was a lad, even more than Clyde. He signed my Western Conf Champ shirt after a game, and i still have it hanging on my parents wall.

sad sad day for Blazer fans.

2 Time allstar. One of my favs. Kind of a fragile guy, ego-wise, but a soft touch around the hoop. He battled weight and confidence issues his whole career, but in 90 he was fantastic (especially after the whole Bowie and Walton issues it was great to have a center we could count on). RIP Duck……I will miss you

A rarity over there. I like this one:

“miketatham34 (17 minutes ago) Report Violation I remember Kevin at Eastern Illinois University. He lived in my dorm, Thomas Hall, and was always a popular guy there and on campus. One night in my dorm room I was popping some popcorn in my hotair popper, if anyone can remember those things. Just as the batch of popcorn finished popping, there was a bang on my door. I opened the door, and standing there in his 7 foot frame holding an empty bowl was Kevin. He smiled and said he could smell the popcorn out in hallway. Obviously, I made another batch. RIP Kevin, you were always cool to me and my friends.”

I loved Duck.

We will miss you and praying for you.

Sophia

Maybe if we get the Terry Porter thing done….the team can invite the rest of the Blazers from the 90s for a tribute to Duck as well. Gavin has been talking all morning about retiring his number …I am not sure that is appropriate ….however a tribute with his team attending I think would be great.

hard to hold em back with this news. We love you Duck.

it was a cardiac arrest (source was paramedics from Lincoln City). FYI

Well … man.
We’ll miss you, Duck.

It was great seeing him last year on the floor. Brought back a lot of great memories.

Sad, sad news. He was very young, too. RIP :(

I remember duckworth as being a bit on the streaker side, and that annoyed me, but he was a blazer and he was ours.

I deal with life sucking events with humor, but realize that such would not be appreciated and thus will bite my tongue.

Here’s hoping he had a great life, a great family. and that everyone has been taken care of and feels that he really added value for being on this earth. A person who has lived tends to be a person who will be missed, and here’s hoping he’s dearly missed.

Very gentle and personable. And a great Blazer. This is very sad.

1964 – 2008

You were a classy guy. My thoughts are with your family and kids.

I always loved that little ten-foot, one-handed push shot he liked. Hit it a lot, too.

…Kevin Duckworth as a great Blazer player. He worked very hard to become a starter and an All-Star on a fantastic Blazer team. I never personally met Kevin Duckworth but it’s nice to read all these posts about him. He always struck me as a nice person, almost the definition of gentle giant. Blazer fans and Oregon should be mourning the passing of one of our own. Rest In Peace Kevin Duckworth. Great Blazer center and citizen of Oregon.

He was way too young.

I saw him before one game last year surrounded by fans. I was wearing an old Blazer shirt that had (printed) signatures on it – his included – and I showed it to him and said I’d always been a fan – got a big grin in return.

My tears are not only for the loss of a decent human being, but for the knowledge that those “golden years” when he played for us are long past and the memories will be fading too.

He was talkative and easy going, and nicer then I was. I was shocked when I heard it on the radio this morning, had no idea how young he was.

To have lap-band surgery is now validated. Best of luck to Wheels on a speedy recovery.

Reading through the comments on ESPN’s article about Duck’s passing, it made me smile to see how respected he was by fans of other teams, ESPECIALLY Suns fans. I guess I was just too young to remember specific games, but it seems like he saved some great playoff performances for those Suns teams we took care of a few times in the playoffs.

http://myespn.go.com/s/conversations/show/story/3553879

Duck was one of a kind and I’m not sure if there has been a Blazer more appreciative of the fans. I know I’m repeating myself because I said the same in the other thread, but his passing really bums me out and it was much too soon.

I was worried that the ESPN thread would be filled with nonsense (like normal). I usually don’t dare venture into there when I care about a subject, but I’m glad to see most of the comments are so nice.

Mortimer

…is that he made Oregon his home after his playing days with the blazers ended. He was always a class act even when folks around him were often quite critical. All the best Kevin. Thanks for the memories.

When they interviewed Duck last season on a Blazers’ broadcast, he seemed so excited about the current team. He was like any other Blazer fan. It would have been fun to see Duck ride the new wave of Blazermania. He seemed like a really sweet guy.

I still remember him coming back for game 7 vs. the Spurs in 1989 and leading us to victory in that amazing win….

Duck was a stud. Being a bit on the heavy side myself, I identified with him. Rest in peace, big guy.

      My friends and I loved Duck and his one
hand wobbler jump shot. We used to imitate
all the Blazers shots when we played HORSE.
     I met him a couple of times. The first was
at an exhibition game in Medford in Oct 18th,
1987 vs. the Cleveland Cavs. We talked to him
at halftime and he signed my homemade
banner. (along w/ Kiki, Clyde, Jerome, Blazer
Bill, etc.) He was such a easy going, regular
guy. We were chanting “Duck – All Star” and
he gave us the thumbs up on his chances
for the future.
     I got another chance to talk to him again at the
2007 Blazers fan fest. What a mountain of a man !
All he could talk about was how great the Blazers
were going to be again and how he loved working
with kids. One my all time faves.
     RIP – Duck. You will be missed !!!

My dad called me just a few weeks ago to tell me that he and my brother were watching a classic Blazer game from the 1990s, and just as he would do back in the day started griping about Kevin Duckworth! I laughed, remembering how dad always claimed he "hated’ Duckworth (never understood why…) and just as I would do then I defended Duckworth as one of my favorite players. I could tell that my dad wasn’t serious and again, just as I believed then that he secretly admired Duckworth, I got the feeling he was really enjoying seeing Kevin back in action.

For my part, I really appreciated seeing Kevin at the RG last season with Bill Schonley, Clyde and Jerome. My prayers go out to the Duckworth family as we all mourn his loss.

I mean I loved Duck. He was a great Trail Blazer. Duck was a part of the core that took us to the Finals. Duck was a great person- kind, tough, sensitive, fallible, clutch, but always beloved.

I wanted to think of a few memories of Duck to help me though it.

My first involved his first appearance as a Trail Blazer after trading Walter “the knife” Berry to San Antone. The game was televised and it may have even been against the Spurs, but what I recall is watching that game with friends and commenting on “who is this guy?” after several inside jukes for scores and the very first Duck-hook. We all felt kinda amazed at how Portland got a potential steal in a good big man, with a feathery touch and of course size.

My second special memory of Duck involved a run in with KJ during a playoff game. KJ busted through the D and Duck was waiting, hands skyward and perfectly vertical as KJ jumped into him knee first, before crashing to the hardwood in a heap courtesy of the Duck brick wall. KJ got the call (because it was in Phoenix and KJ was a whiner) then got up, grabbed the ball and heaved a chest pass into Duck’s sternum like he wanted to start something with Duck. Duck had the most amazing grin on his face at KJ’s attempt to man-up before him, and before the ref’s restored order.

I guess the last most obvious memory of Duck involved his frustration with Vlade Divac always being able to poke the ball out from him when Duck caught it in the low post. I know that caused Duck many a frustration, and for every time it happened, I loved Duck more and more for it. Sometimes its the guy like Duck who may not always get it right, but deep down makes the team, and all of us better.

See you in Heaven, Duck, where autographs wont matter.

Going trick or treating to Duck’s house on Halloween. Big man, answered the door himself, and always give king-sized candy.

hope where ever he is it’s nice and peaceful.

I hope you went straight to heaven, Duck.

you’ll be missed..

to the Duckworth family and Blazers fans everywhere.

Fond memory – me yelling “what’s a Duck-worth?” at KD when the Blazers visited Sacramento, followed by the big man burying a mid-range jumper and then giving me that “it was funny the first million times I heard it” look.

Rest in peace, Kevin Duckworth. Rest in peace.

It is too bad a great player, and great guy’s life ends very early. He’ll be missed by many. May " Duck " R.I.P.

I wore 00 for one of my first baseball jerseys groing up. God bless you Duck RIP.

Rest in peace, gentle giant.

You’ve been missed since you departed the team, and will be missed even more now. I have many fond memories of your time on the Blazers and of you becoming a true Oregonian. I’m very saddened to see you go. Today I feel as if I’ve lost a close cousin.

Rest in eternal peace big man, I can’t wait to hoop it up with you when my time comes to leave this planet.

…by which I mean it seemed like he never lost his sense of wonder at making it into the league. It was always heartwarming to see that this fairly obscure but talented player could ascend such heights, and through dedicated and hard work become an all-star and most improved player. I often wished he could have had the confidence in his game that he seemed to lack, but that too made it all the more easier for me to relate to him.

I’ve always maintained, and I always will, that the trade that brought Duck to Portland was one of the Blazers’ best ever, and I was always proud to call Kevin Duckworth one of our own. R.I.P. Duck-we’ll miss you terribly.

the Blazers would have never achieved the success that they had at the time. He was such an integral part of this team, such a great person. I can picture in my mind Duck shooting the basketball from the top of the key with that one handed shot of his, the ball arcing in slow motion through the hoop, the eruption from the arena. He was so loved by the fans, and we loved him. It was no surprise he chose to live his life here, even though he moved around the league in his later playing days.

We’ll miss you….

well miss you

thoughts and prayers go out to his fam

How much all of us appreciated him. I have been astounded at the outpouring of fond memories of Duck that have been expressed here as well as O-live, and on the radio. He was obviously beloved. I never got the opportunity to meet the big fella and now I am saddened that I never will. By all accounts he was a guy that I could have related to. The ups and downs are something I went thru as well (as did many of us). I did enjoy watching him. I got chills when he walked out for game seven of the Spurs series. I remember arguing with a friend of mine (during the1989/90 season) that Duck was better than Bill Lambier. I still believe that Duck was the more talented player but time showed that he struggled with confidence issues (Damn you Vlade…you may have ruined him). If he had just a little bit of a mean streak, he would have probably been a better player ….but he wouldn’t have been the guy we loved. I really hope he knew……about his friends….about his teammates …and the thousands of strangers who will miss him.

but he will not soon be forgotten by the Blazer community. He was not just a good player. He was a good person.

And that’s the Truth.

In a house across the street from the T-ball fields at William Walker elementary school.

I played a lot of T-ball there, and once kids got wind of the fact that Kevin Duckworth lived a stone’s throw away, they started congregating around his gate yelling for autographs, trying to get a glimpse of him and, really, acting in a way that would have annoyed me if I had just been trying to live my life in relative privacy.

But Duck actually came out. And not just to sign autographs, either. He sat down in the tiny metal bleachers and watched the game.

Getting thrown out at first in front of Duck was rough. He’ll be missed.

So many comments about the man, and 99.9% of them positive.

you always put being a real person before being an athlete.