KEVIN DUCKWORTH
A beloved member of Portland’s great Western Conference championship teams of the early 1990s, Kevin Duckworth was a two-time All-Star.
A giant of a man, the 7-foot Duck had a surprisingly soft shooting touch. He made his first All-Star team as a Blazer in 1989 (along with Clyde Drexler), averaging 18.1 points and eight rebounds per game. He made his second All-Star squad in 1991 (with Drexler and Terry Porter), averaging 15.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.
A second-round draft selection in 1986 out of Eastern Illinois University, Duckworth was traded to Portland in December of that year. Number double-zero played seven seasons in Rip City, winning the league’s Most Improved Player award in 1988.
Duckworth died in 2008 at the age of 44. But he was immortalized one year later when a dock on the Willamette River near Portland’s Eastbank Esplanade was named in his honor.