Morris "Bucky" Buckwalter - Special Contribution to Sports

Morris “Bucky” Buckwalter went from LaGrande to the top of the pro basketball world through a career as a player, coach and then scout and executive, helping develop the Blazers roster that reached the NBA Finals in 1990 and ’92.

Buckwalter grew up in LaGrande and played collegiately at the University of Utah, which twice reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. Following graduation, he became a college assistant at Utah and later head coach at Seattle University.

From there, he moved to the Seattle SuperSonics of the NBA and served as an interim coach for a time in 1972. In 1973, he became coach of the Utah Stars of the ABA and signed 17-year-old Moses Malone, who later became an NBA Hall of Famer. He moved back to Portland as an assistant coach under Jack Ramsay in 1978, and became an executive in 1986.

Buckwalter’s biggest accomplishments in basketball came as a judge of player talent, including finding Jerome Kersey and Terry Porter to help build the Clyde Drexler-led Blazers of the ‘90s. The Sporting News named him NBA Executive of the Year in 1991.

Buckwalter was at the front of NBA scouts in locating talent from overseas, working for many years to sign center Arvydas Sabonis. In overseas visits to more than 40 countries, Buckwalter has claim to more than two million frequent flier miles.

He retired from the Blazers in 1997, and was inducted to the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.