Billy Ray Bates’s ongoing struggle to sort out life after basketball

Mychal Thompson had it right. He was a comet that came out of no where. I was a very young kid at the time but got to see one game in person and was in complete awe of his ability to defy gravity. By pure happenstance, I was able to meet him in person on a marketing junket for the Blazers in a small town in Southern Oregon. He was the most congenial, likable person you could possible imagine and that only made the starstruck nature of my youth more ingrained. He came across as everyone's best friend and seemed so happy just to be meeting new people. I was crushed when they let him go and didn't hear about the substance struggles until later in life.

That didn't chance the mercurial ride of euphoria he could take fans on with one open court foray of rim destruction.

Great article and thank you.

 

For most people, there is a cause and effect relationship between drug use and friendliness/openness. I guess that fact is a secret now. Drug freedom used to be a political movement around 1970, but school indoctrination intimidated a new generation into silence.

 

Billy Ray was a shining fleeting shooting star.
He didn't play with Bill Walton, as the article said.

We've had some great courageous scouting and signings in our 40+ years......
Billy Ray one of the first.

 

The Legend of Billy Ray Bates!