Nobody asked, but I want to share my first real Bill Schonely experience.

The day before the preseason finale in 2017, I got a call from Jeff Curtin, who was then the Trail Blazers director of broadcasting. He said hey, are you available to fill in tomorrow to call the Blazers preseason game vs Maccabi Haifa? I thought he was joking, but of course I was available. I got a fresh haircut and beard trim, I wore the only suit that I owned (from my wedding 2 months prior) and prepped my ass off.

I got to the arena, went through the pregame show, all of that stuff etc etc… about 15 mins before tip off, I was sitting in Section 113 next to Michael Holton, anxious, nervous, sweating… so I went down to the media room to grab some tea to calm down. I turn around and there is Bill Schonely staring right at me. I had a couple interactions with him in the past, but I didn’t think he knew who I was.

He put his left hand on my shoulder, had a fist with his right, smiled at me and said in his Schonely voice “You’re going to do great!” and gave a fist pump in the air. It’s hard to explain how much that meant to me and calmed me down. I then proceeded to treat that game like it was game 7 of the NBA Finals, to me it was. It was my one chance to audition in real time. Without that interaction I might have been just too anxious. I felt like I nailed it. The following year when Wheels had health problems, I called 57 games including playoffs. When Wheels couldn’t continue, I interviewed for the full time job and got it less than a month before the first preseason game. I might not have this job if it wasn’t for that brief moment with The Schonz.

We built a relationship over the years, and and he was a mentor to me. A few months before his passed he gave me permission to use “Rip City” in my play by play repertoire. It was the ultimate endorsement. Of course, I never would out of respect to him… except for the first game after he passed. I used every single one of his catch phrases over the course of the game. Thanks Schonz.