Sports
Stoudamire's Grandmother would have been proud
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TUALATIN -- The tattoo is new, but the memory is old and dear.
Damon Stoudamire, Portland's newest multimillionaire, showed for the first day of practice Thursday with some new body art. He still has Mighty Mouse on his right arm, but he has added another of his heroes on his left biceps.
The picture is of a woman with glasses, his grandmother, Wanda Matthews. Underneath the picture, it reads:
"Wanda 236 N. Page"
The address is burned into his brain as well as his arm. That was grandma's house. This was where he often went for guidance, supervision, advice and love. The lessons learned in that little house in North Portland helped him become what he is today. And while Wanda Matthews is gone, she will be close to Damon's heart forever.
"She died in 1990," Stoudamire said. "I wish she could have lived long enough to have seen me play in the NBA. When I was a kid, if I wasn't at my mother's house, I was at my grandmother's. So were a lot of other kids.
"She baby-sat me and a whole bunch of other ones. She was like a mother to all of us. I was kind of a knucklehead sometimes in those days, but she was one of the people I listened to and respected." |
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Stoudamire signed a seven-year, $81 million contract with the Trail Blazers on Thursday. The best part about that is, I don't think the bankroll is going to change him much.
"I can't imagine myself riding around in a limousine," he said. "I won't change much. I'm not much of a spender. You just want to be in a situation to make sure you're taken care of when you're done playing basketball. My mother and father are already set."
Stoudamire is going to be in a difficult position. He is not going to have much of a private life, and his professional mistakes are going to be played out on a big stage. On top of that, he's going to have the typical problem of someone who becomes very rich, very fast: A lot of "friends."
Stoudamire already has plans for a chunk of his new-found wealth. He is planning to start a charitable foundation, mainly to benefit children. Part of his new contract is access to a suite at the Rose Garden, and he plans to fill it with kids.
"I don't want to say 'inner-city' kids," he said. "It's at-risk youth. This will be bigger than just one part of Portland or just the city. It's going to be for people throughout Oregon. I could see us getting involved in things all over the state if we can. Things like the shooting at Thurston (High School). If we can go in there with some money and help people, those are things I'd like to do.
"There are a lot of unfortunate things that have happened, and you'd like to be able to help out. I think it can benefit a lot of people."
Jerome Lewis, Damon's longtime friend from the Bay Area, and Damon's father Willie will run the foundation, along with a board of directors yet to be named.
"We will have some very good people involved," Damon said. "This is not going to be just some kind of way for me to hide money. I don't want anything out of it." |
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Signing with the Blazers is a gamble for someone from Portland. With no other major-league franchise, the team is constantly under a microscope. Often, both victory and defeat get blown out of proportion.
"In Portland and in Oregon, they embrace their home boys," he said. "The city has embraced me. That's part of the reason I want to give back."
Sometimes I think Stoudamire is caught in a time warp. It's almost as if he should have been playing when the world was smaller and old-fashioned virtue was more valued. His roots -- be they community, family or job-related -- are of utmost importance to him. He loves basketball so much that every time I go to a game locally, be it high school or college, I look for him to be there, somewhere in the grandstand watching.
He doesn't just play basketball, he absorbs it. He knows its history and always pays tribute to those who came before him.
"I was watching an old game (on television) the other night between Denver and Detroit," he said. "I'll say one thing about those guys -- man, they could shoot. Everybody out there could shoot. They shot a lot better than we do now. It was amazing." |
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Basically, Stoudamire -- a small man in a big man's game -- is like a lot of today's athletes in that he wants respect. He has worked hard to get where he is today and isn't shy about his talent. He's good and he knows it.
But between mother, father and grandmother, some people did a wonderful job of helping this man grow, because there's one thing that separates him from a lot of other modern-day players: He doesn't just get respect, he gives it.
And it is his respect for his grandmother, his parents, his city and his sport that will make us - win or lose - proud he is here. After all, he is not just a Trail Blazer.
He's Portland.
The Oregonian January 22, 1999 |
"There are already so many people coming to me with deals and proposals," he said. "And it's hard to say no to people you've been hanging out with your whole life. But I'm going to have to."
Dwight Jaynes
