Portland lost a local legend on Wednesday night, as Jerome Kersey was pronounced dead, the cause reported to be a blood clot in his calf that moved in to his lung. Kersey was just 52, and just six months from turning 53 at the time of his death.
Kersey was known mostly for playing basketball for a town that embraces its athletes in ways many other places might find foreign.
But the way in which Kersey embraced the community right back, is what made him such a special person.
Actively donating his time to local charities, schools, and youth groups, Kersey didn’t back away from a challenge on or off the court.
When his then girlfriend revealed that she had MS, Kersey treated it like any other problem. They worked hard, learned the facts, and looked for solutions, incessantly. Kersey would help out any way he could, volunteering to emcee at MS charitable events to help raise awareness, and ideally putting more funds in the bucket towards research.
Kersey spoke alongside Terry Porter to a group of high school students about Black History Month on Tuesday, and was hard at work on Wednesday before the ailment that would claim his life first took hold.
The man didn’t take breaks. He attacked life the same way he attacked a basketball game, and the community took notice. Kersey made himself available to the public, and was regularly spotted at Blazer’s games, community events, and just around town.
While his NBA career is what the world might remember him for, Portland will remember him for being a community fixture, a man of the people and for the people. He just didn’t act the way other celebrities do. He didn’t appear to value his time over the needs of others, and he didn’t come here just for a big payday or leave when the money and fame slowed. Kersey was a family man, a community man, and that’s what Portlanders will think of when they think of him.
Born and raised in Virginia and taken in the second round of the 1984 NBA draft, Kersey had many opportunities to be in Portland. But once he got here, he stayed for good. Even after spending time with five other franchises in various parts of the nation, and living in many other houses, this town is where he made and kept his home.
It’s a sad day and a shame that a man so actively involved would be taken from the city that loved him right back. Former Blazer greats Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter were interviewed about Kersey on Thursday, and they both had the most glowing responses, calling him a great friend and the perfect teammate. “Shocking” is a word they both used to describe Kersey’s untimely death, and that hits the nail on the head.
Kersey had knee surgery earlier this week to repair a torn meniscus, and it’s believed that the fatal clot formed during recovery but the possibility exists that the clot had been formed for quite some time and unrelated to his recent surgery.
A fixture in the community and in the minds of rabid fans that watched him terrorize the NBA during perhaps the greatest span in Blazers history from 1984-1992, Kersey was and will be many things, but he will never be forgotten.
Survived by his wife Teri and their four daughters, Kersey’s memory lives on in them, as well as any that were lucky enough to know the man.
It’s been a sad few years for Blazers fans as Maurice Lucas and Kevin Duckworth were taken too soon, and now Kersey.
Team owner Paul Allen issued a glowing statement on Kersey on Thursday, and Blazers’ guard Steve Blake has been approved to change his number away from Kersey’s #25 jersey, in order to honor the fallen icon.
Plans for a memorial service for Kersey have not been made public, but many fans have mourned their hero by posting his jersey in parts of Portland, laying flowers in front of the Memorial Coliseum where he played during his career here, and the Moda Center flashed 25 times every 25 seconds.
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