Bill Schonely aka “Mr. Rip City"

“Mr. Rip City,” aka Bill Schonely, is serving as the Trail Blazers family’s Founding Broadcaster/Ambassador for the 16th year. "The Schonz," who was the voice of the Trail Blazers during their birth in 1970 and the team’s championship run in 1977, is in his 50th year of association with the franchise. Schonely coined the phrase “Rip City” in a game against the Lakers in the 1970-71 first season of Trail Blazer basketball, which has since become a nickname for both the Trail Blazers and the city of Portland. In 2014, KPOJ sports radio rebranded as “Rip City Radio” after Schonely’s famous phrase. He currently serves in a variety of ways as the organization’s ambassador to the community. The legendary broadcaster was recognized by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame with the Curt Gowdy Media Award during the 2012 Hall of Fame reunion dinner in Springfield, Mass. The prestigious award is presented annually to members of the print and electronic media whose longtime efforts have made a significant contribution to the game of basketball. Schonely then received the Special Achievement Award at the 2013 Governor’s Gold Awards. The Oregon Association of Broadcasters also recognized Schonely with the 2012 Tom McCall Award, named after the former Oregon governor. In 2009 alone, the local legend was named Portland First Citizen by the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors, Grand Marshall of the Rose Festival Starlight and Grand Floral Parades, and had the “Bill’s Kids Fund” established in his name by Providence Child Center to honor his longstanding dedication to and compassion for the medically fragile children who call the center home. The city of Portland declared April 3, 2010, a day of appreciation for Schonely. His most recent achievement includes being inducted into the Oregon Historical Society as a 2017 Oregon History Maker, being honored as someone who helped to define the great state of Oregon. Schonely’s 30 years behind the microphone was the second-longest tenure in the NBA at the time to the late Chick Hearn, the legendary voice of the Lakers. Schonely's popularity has prompted the city councils and mayors of Portland, Vancouver, Wash., Lake Oswego and Gresham to pass resolutions calling for his inclusion into the Hall. Schonely called his last Trail Blazers game on April 30, 1998, a first-round playoff contest with the L.A. Lakers. The next two years he hosted Rip City TV specials and provided sideline commentary during BlazerVision telecasts. He was courtside calling the action when Portland played its first-ever preseason game on Sept. 24, 1970, in Longview, Wash., and over the next three decades did the play-by-play for close to 3,000 Trail Blazers contests home and away. Schonz was honored as Oregon’s Sportscaster of the Year in 2003, 2001 and 1997 by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. He has also been named Broadcaster of the Year by the Oregon Association of Broadcasters and three times has been honored as the state’s Sportscaster of the Year by the OAB. In 1998, the OAB established an annual college scholarship in Schonely’s name for aspiring sports broadcasters and writers. In 2002, he was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame. A native of Norristown, Pa., he served in the Marine Corps and did a sports show for Armed Forces Radio overseas before going to work for radio station KVI in Seattle. He was the voice of the Seattle Totems hockey team in the Western Hockey League. He also did University of Washington football, Seattle Angels baseball, the Oakland Seals in the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball’s Seattle Pilots. After the Pilots moved to Milwaukee in 1970, the Portland Trail Blazers came calling. Schonely is involved in helping support numerous charitable causes, including the American Heart Association and Life Flight, and is a board member of the Providence Child Care Center Foundation. Bill and his wife, Dottie, live in Charbonneau.