Terry Porter, former teammate, current head coach of the Phoenix Suns: "Kevin was just a big teddy bear. He was lovable. A great teammate. He really cared for people. He was a big part of all the success we had in Portland. It’s a sad day in Blazers land.

"Kevin was always a calming presence. He was a guy who sometimes took things really hard but I think overall, from a teammate standpoint, he would do whatever was necessary to help us win games. There were times that he took a lot of heat for some of our failures, unfairly I think. He was just a loving guy. He really cared for people. He would do whatever was necessary to help people.

"At that time I think he was one of the better centers in the game as far as being on a complete team, having the ability to hit the midrange jump shot, hit the post up shot. He was very skilled in the post.

"He was lovable. Always a jokester off the court. He’d give you that big hug. Some people thought he was a little bit too much of a teddy bear, they wanted him to be more of a force, but that was his personality. He had a personality that fit well with the rest of us. "

Larry Miller, Trail Blazers Team President: "This is a really sad day for our organization. Kevin was not just someone who contributed to this team on the basketball court. Off the court he was a great ambassador for this organization. He loved the Trail Blazers; he loved being a part of this family. We’re going to sorely miss him."

Jerome Kersey, former teammate: "My friendship with Kevin went beyond the court. We played many, many years together and went through many, many difficulties and a heck of a lot more great moments together. When I heard last night that he had passed away I reflected on those. It’s definitely a time to be sad. But if I know Kevin, he would be like, 'Fool get your head up. Don’t be crying over me too much.'

"You never know how close you are sometimes with people until something like this happens. I knew Kevin’s heart like a lot of other people in the organization and around different areas of Oregon got to know Kevin because he loved to hunt and fish and he went to various areas to do all of that. People remembered him when he came back from those areas.

"People who know him look at Kevin -- he’s a big guy -- but Kevin worked very hard and he was very sensitive about wanting to be thinner, wanting to be the best player. No matter what you say, he was a heck of a basketball player. To be at that weight sometime and still perform. He didn’t always the get accolades that he actually deserved. He’s an All-Star. On an ongoing basis every day he came through an era were everybody was talking about how Sabonis should have been here. Kevin was our center. We loved him and like I said, we had some great times on the court and off the court.

"He was the kind of guy who would always get more mad at himself. He wanted to perform at a high level every night that he went out. Some night’s he didn’t talk to me [after games], but I knew that was Kevin. Then he’d come back around and give you a hug and say, 'You know I love you man.' And that’s what you’d remember about him. He loved. As much as he grumbled, he loved everything and everybody. He was a big bear.

"When he first got here after the Walter Berry trade, nobody actually talked to him in the locker room. Steve Johnson was like, “Who’s going to guard him over there?” because Kevin was much bigger.

"Just on our last trip, the one to Eastern Oregon, we were talking about his Members Only jacket that he wore to like, everything. He probably still has it. It’s a culmination of things, game situations. After the game, going to get something to eat or just knocking on his door or being at his house and you couldn’t walk across the carpet with your shoes on and I would actually walk in the house with them on. And he’d get angry. Those are the great little things about Kevin that you remember. Those will be missed, definitely."

Rick Adelman, former Portland Trail Blazers head coach, current head coach of the Houston Rockets: “Kevin was a great person and player. It is a sad day for anyone who knew him and the type of person he was. Kevin was really typical of the type of players we had on those Portland teams in the early ‘90s. He was a model professional who gave everything he had on the basketball court and was a great representative for the team and the community off the floor. Those of us who were fortunate to have him in our lives will always have fond memories of Kevin. My heart goes out to his family at such a difficult time.”

Bob Sullivan, Duckworth's former high school coach, current scout for the Utah Jazz: "I came to Thornridge his sophomore year and he wasn’t in the program at the time. He had been cut as a freshman because he missed the first day of tryouts and they just cut him. He had an older brother, Ray, who was about 6-8 and another brother who was a senior, Eddie, who was about 6-7, and none of them were in the program.

"I had the assistant bring them into my office and of course you were overwhelmed by how big they were. I thought, boy I’m going to be a pretty good coach here. I can tell already!

"He was just so gentle and so kind. I knew right away this guy has an NBA body, he’s got great hands, he can shoot the ball. I thought if he will develop a work ethic -- and that’s the thing I really tried to impress upon him-- that if you work hard it will pay off for you and he bought into that. He worked hard and it paid off for him.

He had great hands. Very soft hands. He could catch the ball, he could shoot the ball. And he’d listen and he tried to do the things that you wanted him to do. He didn’t have great mobility but at his size… I’ll tell you the truth, by time he was a senior I had been coaching high school basketball for about 18 years and I never played anything but man-to-man defense. But his senior year we put in some zone stuff. We would half-court trap press and he did a great job, much better than I ever thought he’d be able. He did a great job on that.

"He was just so easy going. He was gentle, he was kind. He was very popular. Everybody loved Kevin. The kids, the student body bought into him immediately. One of the teachers that taught wood shop went out and bought all of these duck decoys and hollowed out the bottoms and kids would wear them to games. Duck hats they had. There would be a whole section of the student body wearing duck decoys on their heads. He was immensely popular because he was such a nice, easy going guy. Easy to get along with, easy to like.



One time I didn’t think he was working hard enough in practice and I sent him out. I kicked him out of practice. That’s the only time I ever had a problem with him. And it was just something that … Kevin would never say a nasty word about anybody or any thing. He just quietly left practice. My assistant said, ‘That’s the greatest thing you’ve done because if you’re going to put him out now these other guys will work 10 times harder.” He came back and apologized. I really thought that if this guy works hard he’s got a shot at making the NBA. He’s got enough good things going for him so that if he develops a good work ethic he’s got a shot.

"His senior year I told him, ‘I’m going to pick you up at 6 o’clock in the morning every day on the first day of school.’ I had a Volkswagen van and I would pick him up and we would go run the streets of Dolton, the two of us, because I was trying to get him to lose some weight. I’ve always been an incredibly slow runner and I would always beat him every single day by increasing amounts and I’d be waiting by the building for him when he’d come in. He says to me one day, ‘You enjoy this, don’t you?’ I says, ‘I really do Kev.’ And he says, ‘I hate it! I stand at that door every day and pray you won’t show up, but you never miss a day. You show up every day.’ I will always have that memory: he and I plodding along the streets of Dolton at 6 o’clock in the morning for two months before the season started.

"I’m so saddened because he’s such a lovable person. I cared so much for him. He’s a wonderful person beside the fact that he was an accomplished basketball player. He was a wonderful person and it’s always made me happy that he’s had a good life. He’s had a real high-quality life, because I thought he was a guy with great common sense. He didn’t do things extravagantly. He didn’t live a lifestyle like many of today’s young players. I thought he’d always have a nice life and he deserves it because he’s such a wonderful guy. That adds to the sadness of it for me."

Kevin Pritchard, Trail Blazers General Manager: Obviously this is a sad day for this organization, He was important to this community. We all know Kevin as the guy who was a fantastic basketball player but that pales in comparison to what he did off the court for us and his community.

The thing that I take away is that Kevin loved this organization. Throughout the years, he stayed in Portland and he came back home. We’re very proud of his accomplishments on the court but even so what he meant to this community, to this organization, to this state, to his teammates. I don’t think we can put that into words.

I know Kevin was working very hard to get back into shape. I saw him at the practice facility, had conversations with him out there. I think today we’re very proud, this organization, to be associated with a person like Kevin.

I never saw him in a bad mood. We are who we associate ourselves with and Kevin was as good as they get. I think it’s important to note that he cared about this organization. He had an opportunity to live anywhere in the world and he chose Portland, Oregon. I do believe that his was his home and he made his special place.

Bill Schonely, longtime Trail Blazers radio announcer: The gentle giant, Kevin Duckworth, meant a great deal to me. Very nice to me. One thing that I’ll always remember about Kevin, despite what he did out on the floor and what he’d done in the community -- and we must remember that he’s one of us. He lived in the community a long, long time. Kevin was a hugger. He loved to hug you. And when you got hugged by Kevin Duckworth, you were hugged.

I know he’s looking down right now and he doesn’t want us to talk about him. He’s so calm, cool and collected. But he wants to give everybody, all the fans, all the people in the state of Oregon, wherever, guys out on the river fishing, he wants to hug ‘em. And I can feel that hug myself right now. He’s a great guy.