By Wayne Thompson

If you look back at the Trail Blazers' magical 1977 playoff run that brought the franchise its only world championship, it was Bob Gross who arguably made the difference between victory and defeat.

Just ask Portland's Hall of Fame center Bill Walton about that and he just gushes with enthusiasm. Walton loves that championship team, often referring to it as "a perfect time, a perfect place."

And Bobby Gross, then a second-year player out of Long Beach State, is the player whom Bill Walton always mentions in reminiscing about his Blazers. In Walton's eyes, Gross was one of those rare basketball prodigies who could move without the ball, get himself open for a shot and then hit the open man if defenders came his way.

The consummate team-first player.

Former Blazer assistant coach Tom Meschery, when asked in 1975 to describe what he saw when scouting the 6-foot-6 Gross at Long Beach, said, "One word really sums him up -- "active. He knows how to play without the ball. Those players are hard to find."

Bobby Gross, now 55 and living in Happy Valley, a suburban community east of Portland, remains low-key about his eight-year NBA career and especially his contributions to Portland's only NBA title.

When the Blazers retire his jersey number -- "30" -- on Dec. 18 in a pre-game ceremony before Portland plays the Phoenix Suns, it will complete the celebration cycle for that 1976-77 team.

All five starters now -- Maurice Lucas, Gross, Walton, Lionel Hollins and Dave Twardzik -- have had their numbers retired by the Blazers, as have coach Jack Ramsay and two reserves on that team, Larry Steele and Lloyd Neal.

"I'm so pleased to be honored this way, but to be honest, I don't think I deserve to be up there in the rafters with Luke and Bill," said Gross, who has never thought of his game as anything special.

Most others who watched Bobby Gross play for the Blazers in seven seasons, including coaches, the media and teammates, would disagree with that assessment.

Bill Walton, in fact, was so impressed with Bobby Gross's overall game and athletic skills that he groomed his eldest son, Luke Walton, to play just like him -- or, as many NBA scouts chirped, “to play the game like it should be played."

Luke Walton used that blue print to become an All-America at Arizona under Coach Lute Olson, and a first round draft pick of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Coach Olson, like the elder Walton, also was struck by the similarities between Luke Walton and Bob Gross. Indeed, when Olson was asked by Seattle Times columnist Bud Withers in 2003 who Luke Walton approximates, he answered without hesitation: "Bobby Gross" (a player Olson coached at Long Beach State in 1973-74).

Yet even Olson wasn't sure what he had after recruiting Gross. His statistics never jumped off the page. But early in Gross' career at Long Beach, Olson reached deep down his bench and summoned Bobby to start a game after a star player had been suspended. Gross responded with a triple double.

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