GEOFF PETRIE
Rip City didn’t have to wait long to celebrate its first NBA All-Star. And it’s fitting that it was Geoff Petrie, who was also the first player the franchise ever drafted.
Petrie made the All-Star team in the Trail Blazers’ inaugural season of 1970-1971. A 6-foot-4-inch guard from Princeton University, Petrie averaged 24.8 points, 4.8 assists and 3.4 rebounds that season, winning the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award and making the All-Rookie First Team.
Petrie played six solid seasons for Portland before he was sent to the Atlanta Hawks in a trade that ultimately netted future All-Star Maurice Lucas for the Blazers. But Petrie would never play for the Hawks; a knee injury put a premature end to his playing days.
The Trail Blazers retired Petrie’s number 45, which hangs in the rafters of the Moda Center. After his playing career, he became a front-office executive for both the Trail Blazers and the Sacramento Kings, winning two NBA Executive of the Year awards.
Petrie has an additional historical connection to Oregon: According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Petrie “was one of the first NBA players to switch to Nike shoes in the 1970s.”
Petrie would make his second and final All-Star appearance in 1974, along with the next Blazer on our list.