Stu Inman, the chief architect of the Portland Trail Blazers 1976-77 NBA Championship team, has passed away at the age of 80.

Inman joined the Trail Blazers in their inaugural 1970-71 season as the team’s chief scout and drafted some of the most legendary Trail Blazer players of all-time including the likes of Geoff Petrie, Sydney Wicks, Mychal Thompson, Jim Paxson, Sam Bowie, Jerome Kersey, and Clyde Drexler.

"The Trail Blazers have lost a very special member of its family and championship team," said Paul Allen, Trail Blazers owner. "Stu set the bar by which all other Trail Blazers teams are judged and he set the bar very high indeed. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Inman family and friends as we all mourn the loss of a Trail Blazers original."

The Trail Blazers will pay tribute to Inman and have a moment of silence prior to tonight’s game with the Denver Nuggets at the Rose Garden.

Inman, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, was a Trail Blazer original, but almost by accident. When Portland was awarded an NBA franchise in February of 1970, there were only a couple of months to put together Portland’s first draft, and the college season was almost over. Inman came highly recommended and signed up, but more as a temporary scout. Four of Inman’s first draft choices made the club and two years later he was named vice president of player personnel. He served as the NBA club’s general manager from 1981 to 1986.

In his 15 seasons with the Trail Blazers, eight of Inman’s draft selections won All-Rookie honors including Petrie (1971), Wicks (1972), both who were named NBA Rookie of the Year, Lloyd Neal (1973), Lionel Hollins (1976), Thompson and Ron Brewer (1979), Kelvin Ransey (1981) and Bowie (1985).

Inman’s greatest accomplishment as a Trail Blazer though was winning the 1977 NBA World Championship. The year previous Portland finished with a 37-45 record. That off-season brought about a myriad of changes to improve the Trail Blazers roster, which included the signings of Dave Twardzik, Corky Calhoun, and Robin Jones, the drafting of Maurice Lucas in the American Basketball Association dispersal draft, and selecting Johnny Davis and Wally Walker in the NBA Draft. Portland finished the 1976-77 regular season with a then franchise record of 49-33 and made the playoffs for the first time in team history. Portland went on to dispatch the Chicago Bulls, Denver Nuggets, and Los Angeles Lakers to advance to the NBA Finals where they rallied from an 0-2 deficit to upset Juluis Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers, 4-2.

Inman was is a 1950 graduate of San Jose State, where the 6-5 center was a star basketball player setting a number of school scoring and rebounding records. The Spartans were tough, too, in Inman’s undergraduate days, posting records of 19-9, 23-9, 22-12 and 21-7 for an overall 85-37. Later Inman coached San Jose State from 1957 to 1966.

Following the Trail Blazers, Inman went on to serve as the director of player personnel for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat.

Inman was also an old hand at international basketball camps, hosting clinics in Europe, the Orient and Australia. He also joined with his close friends Pete Newell and former the University of Portland head coach Jack Avina to coach the Japanese National Team in the summer of 1971.

Most recently Inman lived in Lake Oswego, and had been assisting in evaluating basketball players at Lake Oswego High School for their head coach Mark Shoff.

Inman is survived by his wife, five children and 17 grandchildren. A funeral service was planned for 2 p.m. Monday in Lake Oswego.