PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Bill Schonely was the ever-present narrator of life for generations in Oregon. Fans who came to the Moda Center for the game against the Los Angeles Lakers agreed about the importance The Schonz had in their life.
Schonely, 93, died Saturday. This was the first chance the Blazers as an organization and the fans who loved him could share their thoughts.
“Bill Schonely’s old school. They don’t make them like that anymore,” said Rudy Kellner.
The Blazers had a moment of silence before the opening tip and showed a video tribute midway through the 1st quarter.
Nischa Straugh said Schonely was her childhood. “Sports and Portland Trail Blazer basketball. I remember sneaking radios under my pillow so I could listen to the game before I went to bed.”
“His voice just resonates in your head,” Ross Roque said. “It’s a great honor to have him as an announcer and as a commentator and the city of Portland will really miss him.”
Schonely outlived many Blazer greats, a fact that wasn’t lost on Straugh.
“One of his comments he made is that he thinks about the guys who passed before him every day,” she said. “So now, depending on your individual beliefs, he’s up there with Duck and Cliffy and Maurice and all those guys who meant the world to him.”
Bill Schonely meant the world to so many people he never met.
“It’s not just Oregon. It’s across America. People see Bill as somebody as who he was. He is Rip City. Rip City is Bill Schonely,” Straugh said. “I’m so grateful for everything he did for Oregon and Portland and the Trail Blazers because there won’t be anybody like him ever again.”
Reaction to his death came from far and wide on Saturday
Blazers guard Damian Lillard and head coach Chauncey Billups were effusive in their praise for the longtime broadcaster who was part of the fabric of this city for so long.
“Mr. Schonely obviously is an icon, a legend. Not just in this area either. Around the league, period,” said Billups. “He was always very kind to me and very encouraging and optimistic to me, so I was lucky that I got that little time with him.”
“I’m sure his voice will be remembered. What he represented will be remembered,” said Lillard. “I’m just happy that I’ve been around long enough and spent enough time around him to call him a friend and get to know him.”
US Sen. Ron Wyden said “Schonely provided the soundtrack for generations of Trail Blazers fans and forever made our beloved Portland into RipCity.”
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said the “Mayor of Rip City” was one of “our city’s legendary figures.”
His biographer, Kerry Eggers, told KOIN 6 News Schonely didn’t understand the game of basketball all that well.
“He was just like you and me. We’re just fans, we know a little bit about it. He didn’t know it like the coaches. But you don’t need to when you’re an announcer,” Eggers said. “He was a mellifluous talker, the Voice of God is what we used to say, great voice, he carried the game beautifully so he didn’t need to know basketball all that well.”
A public celebration of his life is being planned, the Blazers said. But the details of that plan have not been released.