Carol McAlice Currie

Statesman Journal

It was difficult to determine whether there were more beer fans or basketball fans at Gilgamesh Brewing in South Salem on Wednesday night.

But with hundreds of people lined up to have former Portland Trail Blazers point guard Terry Porter autograph bottles of a porter bearing his name — and a percentage of the proceeds benefiting Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland — it was clear there were no losers.

By 5 p.m., nearly 100 people of all ages were in line, holding 22-ounce bottles of The Terry Porter porter, waiting for the chance to shake the hand of the affable two-time NBA All-Star, who late last year returned to the Blazers organization as an ambassador. For hours, the line never eased up and neither did Porter’s smile.

He greeted the Hamilton family like long-lost friends, autographing bottles of the porter for mom, Brigitte Hamilton, and dad, Brody, and trading cards bearing his image for Olivia, 8, and Payton, 5. Then he urged the four of them into a group hug and grinned for smartphone and professional photos alike.

The two girls, both students at Pringle Elementary School, are enthusiastic Trail Blazers fans, and were delighted to meet Porter, even though they had never seen him play. Brigitte said though the girls have been to several Blazers games and that their favorite players are Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, this was their first chance to meet a real Blazers player up close, and their excitement was infectious.

“He signed it, look, and put his No. 30 on it,” said Olivia, showing off her card. There’s a good chance she’ll be showing it off later to fellow players on her Salem-Keizer Education Foundation basketball league and at school.

Brigitte said they thought meeting Porter was an appropriate prelude to their daughters’ hoops practice. The parents plan to drink one bottle of the porter and save the other. Others in line cradled three or four bottles or pushed full cases in front of them with their feet.

Which was good news for brothers Michael and Matt Radtke, co-owners of the brewery. Michael said the facility has been working feverishly to get the limited-edition porter ready for release. They began production in October, and Matt said they expected to sell about 60 or 70 cases of the beer that Terry Porter helped craft himself.

“He told me he wasn’t a big beer-drinker before this started, but this has really changed his mind,” Matt said, standing next to Porter amid the bright tanks holding beer. “He added grain and hops, and helped sample it. He was an active throughout the process.”

Porter played for the Trail Blazers from 1985 to 1995, and Oregonians remember him best for helping lead the team to the NBA finals and for his franchise record in assists.

Ben Schumacher of Salem had Porter re-autograph a basketball the former Blazer first signed when Ben was 12 and living in Sublimity. Schumacher, now an adult, was at Gilgamesh with his girlfriend, Sasia Culbertson and mother Julie Schumacher-Lulay, and said Porter had admired his signature from more than a decade earlier. Ben estimates it was first signed between the 1992 and 1993 seasons.

“My grandmother, Sylvia Coleman, had told my cousin Jourdan Kintz and I to grab our basketball gear and meet her down at Santiam Golf Club. She surprised us by having him meet us in the parking lot after a round of golf, and he autographed my basketball. When I heard about this event tonight, I said I have to do it again.”

“He was a nice guy then, and he’s just as nice now,” Ben said, musing that perhaps he should make arrangements to have Porter re-sign the ball in another ten years.

The Radtke brothers, meanwhile, said they were game to host another promotional-product fundraiser.

“I loved making the beer,” Porter said. “ I had so much fun, and we’ve had such a great response, if Doernbecher and Gilgamesh are willing, I’d be happy to do it again.”