The Portland Trail Blazers held a public memorial service this afternoon at Memorial Coliseum, the team's home until 1995, to mourn the passing of and celebrate the life of its former all-star forward Maurice Lucas. Lucas worked on the Blazers staff as an assistant coach until falling ill from bladder cancer more than a year ago.
My memories of Luke from his playing days are mostly confined to his final season, when he returned to Portland in the late '80s to play a bench role. I was too young to remember the Blazers championship season in which Lucas played a huge roll, but I've seen some footage and the guy was amazing. If you've never seen his scrap with Darryl Dawkins in the 1977 NBA Finals, or even if you have, check this out.I'll be back with some baseball cards tomorrow night.
That Star Franz card is sweet. Awesome player tough as nails player.
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