Lynch Park, Terry Porter and the Commute Encumbered by Civic Dispute Long Since Forgotten
Lynch Park was an elementary school in South East Portland, on 148th right between SE Division and SE Powell, otherwise known as State Highway 26. I am an alum of Lynch Park, (a Jaguar for life) having spent my years of kindergarten through third grade learning how to be the best Jaguar I could be. Our gym did multiple duties; cafeteria, assemblies, whatever. But I remember Terry Porter, #30 of the Portland Trail Blazers, who grew up in Milwaukee Wisconsin, and had an impressive NBA career by way of University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, standing on what was our half court line and draining jump shots as he chatted with our principal, or someone. That memory stuck with me, thinking that he was launching them from half court with ease, draining them. Some years later I happened to be in that building, but it was now a Montessori school but that half gym half cafeteria still had the hoops on either end and the mid court line. The line was closer to the rim than an NBA three point shot on goal. I had not enough experience, as a 3rd grader, to realize that the gym at school was but a fraction of the size of the court this man played on, while I watched him on television. A lesson exists here.
Back to the streets of Division and Powell, both of which originate close to the Willamette River, which is the delineating factor between East and West Portland. The Willamette is the 2nd largest northward flowing river in the entire world. The topmost being the River Nile. These two roads are not even a mile apart and they go eastward, through Gresham. Division eventually fades into another road that heads into the Oxbow area of the Sandy River. Powell continues as Highway 26 and goes through Sandy all the way up Mt Hood to Government Camp and then on into Eastern Oregon. There is a curious thing about these roads, though, in that Powell, all the way until just past SE 92nd, is a 4 or 6 lane major traffic arterial throughway, where it turns into a 2 lane road for many miles. Conversely, Division boasts neighborhoods along inner Southeast Portland, with some of the best Portland has to offer in terms of eating, drinking and shopping. But a major traffic conduit it is not. Two lanes as it passes by Mt Tabor, the extinct volcanic vent, and then all the way until just past SE 82nd avenue until it becomes a 4 to 6 lane major east west channel of traffic. Weird, huh? I think the City and the County had differing ideas of which one would best serve traffic needs. I'd be willing to bet that the reason for our discongrous east west traffic flow patterns in Southeast Portland and East Multnomah County is planners on either side simply could not compromise and just to spite each other, they purposefully left it like this. Maybe it was ODOT as Powell is a State Highway, after all. I don't know.
Back to Terry Porter. I remember a kid on the middle school football team -- now I was a proud Cougar at Centennial Middle School, his name escapes me. A little further east than Lynch Park, now I was pushing up against SE 182nd and we could see this road from the football field -- and we were still between Powell and Division. Regardless, this kid had branded himself with a large "TP" on one of his shoulders. It looked infected -- even middle school me could tell that. We all knew "TP" stood for "Tracy Packard," and yes the name is changed to protect the creeped out, but the initials are the same. He told us it stood for "Terry Porter." I remember all of us laughing until we were sick; he stuck to his story though. Maybe a tattoo covers that homage to Terry Porter, or maybe a shark took the arm. Barring something like that, undoubtedly the "TP" lives on.
This is Terry Porter. Do you see the two scars on his right upper arm? One lateral, wide scar roughly mid-bicep and the other at an angle on his anterior deltoid. I can't tell if the bicep one is actually a tattoo or not. Blazer games radio broadcast was on 1190 KEX, and after the post-game show there was a call in show called "The Fifth Quarter." Often home games were aired from a Tony Roma's rib place a couple of blocks from the Memorial Coliseum. I never called in. I always wanted to call in and ask about the origins of the scars. I never did.
I guess in some way all these things are connected in my mind, with swirling explanations of why and murky questions related to why we hold on to these moments. Of course if we are anything, as humans, we are at the bare minimum, with all dogma, philosophy and religion accounted for, a simple collection of experiences that shape us and inform us, or, the 'id' -- if you will, meaning that all of us have moments along our journey that imprint on our brains and become a physical form, in our brain, there to stay until wormfood we become.
Back to the streets of Division and Powell, both of which originate close to the Willamette River, which is the delineating factor between East and West Portland. The Willamette is the 2nd largest northward flowing river in the entire world. The topmost being the River Nile. These two roads are not even a mile apart and they go eastward, through Gresham. Division eventually fades into another road that heads into the Oxbow area of the Sandy River. Powell continues as Highway 26 and goes through Sandy all the way up Mt Hood to Government Camp and then on into Eastern Oregon. There is a curious thing about these roads, though, in that Powell, all the way until just past SE 92nd, is a 4 or 6 lane major traffic arterial throughway, where it turns into a 2 lane road for many miles. Conversely, Division boasts neighborhoods along inner Southeast Portland, with some of the best Portland has to offer in terms of eating, drinking and shopping. But a major traffic conduit it is not. Two lanes as it passes by Mt Tabor, the extinct volcanic vent, and then all the way until just past SE 82nd avenue until it becomes a 4 to 6 lane major east west channel of traffic. Weird, huh? I think the City and the County had differing ideas of which one would best serve traffic needs. I'd be willing to bet that the reason for our discongrous east west traffic flow patterns in Southeast Portland and East Multnomah County is planners on either side simply could not compromise and just to spite each other, they purposefully left it like this. Maybe it was ODOT as Powell is a State Highway, after all. I don't know.
Back to Terry Porter. I remember a kid on the middle school football team -- now I was a proud Cougar at Centennial Middle School, his name escapes me. A little further east than Lynch Park, now I was pushing up against SE 182nd and we could see this road from the football field -- and we were still between Powell and Division. Regardless, this kid had branded himself with a large "TP" on one of his shoulders. It looked infected -- even middle school me could tell that. We all knew "TP" stood for "Tracy Packard," and yes the name is changed to protect the creeped out, but the initials are the same. He told us it stood for "Terry Porter." I remember all of us laughing until we were sick; he stuck to his story though. Maybe a tattoo covers that homage to Terry Porter, or maybe a shark took the arm. Barring something like that, undoubtedly the "TP" lives on.
This is Terry Porter. Do you see the two scars on his right upper arm? One lateral, wide scar roughly mid-bicep and the other at an angle on his anterior deltoid. I can't tell if the bicep one is actually a tattoo or not. Blazer games radio broadcast was on 1190 KEX, and after the post-game show there was a call in show called "The Fifth Quarter." Often home games were aired from a Tony Roma's rib place a couple of blocks from the Memorial Coliseum. I never called in. I always wanted to call in and ask about the origins of the scars. I never did.
I guess in some way all these things are connected in my mind, with swirling explanations of why and murky questions related to why we hold on to these moments. Of course if we are anything, as humans, we are at the bare minimum, with all dogma, philosophy and religion accounted for, a simple collection of experiences that shape us and inform us, or, the 'id' -- if you will, meaning that all of us have moments along our journey that imprint on our brains and become a physical form, in our brain, there to stay until wormfood we become.
Comments