LINCOLN CITY, Ore. — Former Portland Trail Blazers center Kevin Duckworth, a “gentle giant” with a feathery touch from the paint, has died. He was 44.
Duckworth, part of a Trail Blazers goodwill tour, was scheduled to hold a basketball clinic on the Oregon coast when he died Monday night. The Depoe Bay Fire Department said it responded about 10 p.m. to a report of a man who was down and not breathing at Salishan Lodge at Gleneden Beach, north of Newport on the central coast.
The cause of death was to be determined by a medical examiner but the Lincoln County sheriff’s office said there was no indication of foul play.
“Within the world of basketball, within those Trail Blazers teams, he was a jokester,” said Phoenix Suns coach Terry Porter, who played with Duckworth. “He was a big loving teddy bear.”
Duckworth averaged 11.8 points and 5.8 rebounds over 11 seasons in the NBA, helping Portland reach the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992.
• Former NBA player Wayman Tisdale had part of his right leg amputated because of bone cancer.
Tisdale, now a 44-year-old award-winning jazz musician, said removing a portion of the leg would be the best way to ensure that the cancer would not return.
“This may sound drastic, but I have put it in God’s hands and now have peace, knowing that this is the best way to put this disease in check,” he said. “I have complete faith that with the Lord’s blessings this surgery will eliminate the cancer from my body and I’ll soon be back on the road doing what I do best.”
• The Boston Celtics signed first-round draft pick J.R. Giddens, a point guard who averaged 16.3 points and 8.8 rebounds for New Mexico during his senior season.
Indiana’s Taber facing surgery
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana senior forward Kyle Taber is scheduled to undergo surgery on his knee today and is expected to be out for 10 weeks.
Neither the nature of Taber’s injury nor which knee was injured was disclosed. He started four games last season, averaging 1.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in 22 games. He is the only returning scholarship player for the Hoosiers, who are awaiting possible sanctions by the NCAA for telephone recruiting violations by former coach Kelvin Sampson.
Footnotes.
Camilo Villegas won a chipoff against Vijay Singh, Mike Weir, Stewart Cink and Notah Begay III to walk away with top money at the inaugural Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge at Turning Stone Resort’s Atunyote Golf Club in Verona, N.Y. Villegas’ winning pitch on the extra hole of the skins game competition boosted his earnings for the day to $220,000. Singh won two holes to finish with $180,000, and Cink finished with one skin worth $100,000 from the total purse of $500,000.
• Jabir Herbert Muhammad, a longtime manager of boxer Muhammad Ali and son of the late Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, died Monday following heart surgery in Chicago. He was 79.
• Aito Garcia Reneses has quit as Spain’s basketball coach after leading the national team to a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics.
The Associated Press
