Farewell Maurice Lucas

My son and I had the privilege of meeting Maurice at an in-store event in October 2007. When I walked in and saw him, I was taken aback. There were no lines to meet him. It was fairly quiet. He was just sitting at a table, talking up some of the event staff and a few employees. Walking up to him, I introduced myself and my son and we talked for a while.

I passed him a DVD copy of the 1978 Trailblazer documentary Fast Break - and asked him about it. He said he'd seen it when it was shown in Portland theaters back in 1978. I told him he should show the film to the team - so they could better understand the Trailblazers legacy. He took the DVD and said he'd watch it again during his next plane flight.

Luke was the first real basketball player my son had met. He posed with us for photos and signed autographs for Greer. It was wonderful to meet him and he was very kind to my son. When Greer heard about Luke's battle with cancer, he drew up a couple of get-well cards. He found the autographed team photo Maurice gave him and recreated the photo on the card. Hopefully, they reached him - and helped cheer him up for a moment.

After having seen Fast Break, and read Larry Colton's IDOL TIME and David Halberstam's THE BREAKS OF THE GAME, I have an even better respect for him. He was a great basketball player, and an even greater man.

Godspeed Maurice...we'll miss you.