Jerome Kersey obit

Former Trail Blazers, Spurs player Jerome Kersey dies at age 52

PORTLAND, Ore. — Jerome Kersey, the versatile small forward who helped the Portland Trail Blazers reach two NBA Finals and won a title with the San Antonio Spurs in 1999, died Wednesday. He was 52.

A team ambassador, Kersey appeared Tuesday with fellow former Blazers Terry Porter and Brian Grant at a Portland school in celebration of African American History Month.

Kersey averaged 10.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 17 seasons in the NBA with Portland, Golden State, the Los Angeles Lakers, Seattle, San Antonio and Milwaukee. He helped the Blazers reach the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992, playing alongside Porter, Clyde Drexler, Kevin Duckworth and Buck Williams.

The former Longwood University star had his best season in 1987-88, averaging 19.2 points and 8.3 rebounds.Kersey played in 1,153 regular-season games, also averaging 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals.

Kersey ranks second on Portland's career games list with 831, third in minutes played at 21,400, second in rebounds with 5,078, third steals with 1,059, and fifth in points with 10,067.

At 6-foot-7 and 215 pounds, "No Mercy" Kersey had a broad smile and a warm manner that made him a fan favorite.

Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard posted to Twitter: "Spoke to him regularly about life and the ups and downs of a NBA season. Gone too soon, much love!" Others who posted their condolences included Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter.

Kersey retired from basketball in 2001. He was an assistant coach with Milwaukee in 2004-05 under Porter.

At Longwood, a Division II school in Farmville, Virginia, Kersey averaged 17 points and 11.3. He was a second-round pick by the Blazers in the 1984 draft.

Coming from a school that was not known as a basketball powerhouse, Kersey was selected in the second round of the 1984 NBA draft (46th overall pick) by the Portland Trail Blazers. He was a regular contributor from the bench, eventually becoming a starter, and by his third year, he began to shine, even coming in second behind Michael Jordan in the Slam Dunk Contest.

The 1987–88 season, was his best statistically, as he averaged 19.2 points and 8.3 rebounds. He became a starter and was part of the nucleus of a strong Portland team, along with Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Buck Williams, and Kevin Duckworth that made it to the NBA Finals two out of the next three years (in 1990 and 1992). However, in subsequent years Clifford Robinson would take his place and Kersey found himself spending more time on the bench.

By 1995, Portland had several talented forwards, and he was left unprotected in that year's expansion draft when he was selected by the Toronto Raptors, but they waived him before the 1995–96 season began. He signed with the Golden State Warriors, where he started 58 games, and had an altercation with Latrell Sprewell, which resulted in the latter threatening to bring a gun to practice. For the 1996–97 season Kersey signed with the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent, and he had a quite productive year, logging his most playing time in five seasons, because trades and injuries had left the Lakers thin. The 1997–98 season saw him go to his fourth team in four years, but injuries kept him out of the Seattle SuperSonics' lineup for most of the season.

For the lockout-shortened 1998–99 season, Kersey found himself on the San Antonio Spurs, teamed with David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Mario Elie and Sean Ellliott. The team won the 1999 NBA championship. Kersey provided frontcourt depth and experience off the bench in the team's title run, although his scoring, rebounding, and minutes played were all career lows. He stayed with the Spurs for another season and then spent one final season in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks, who fell short in the Eastern Conference Finals. He retired at the conclusion of the 2000–01 season.

Following his retirement in 2001, Kersey served as a coach in various capacities for several teams. For a short time, Kersey worked for Wells Fargo home mortgages. During the 2003–04 NBA season, Kersey was hired by the Trail Blazers to serve as director of player programs. After a season in that capacity, Kersey was hired as an assistant coach by the Milwaukee Bucks, where he served under his former Portland teammate, head coach Terry Porter. He served with the Bucks for one year, but was let go (along with Mike Schuler, who coached both Kersey and Porter while in Portland) on May 6, 2005. Porter was subsequently fired as the Bucks' coach later that year. For a period of time following, Kersey joined the automotive industry as an auto wholesaler.

In November 2005, Kersey was in Longwood's first Hall of Fame class. Others included baseball player Michael Tucker and LPGA golfer Tina Barrett.

Kersey lived with wife Teri in Lake Oswego.

 

Some of his former teammates, coaches and club owners include: Jim Paxson, Sam Bowie, Steve Colter, Jack Ramsay, Kenny Carr, Darnell Valentine, Kiki Vandeweghe, Mychal Thompson, Bernard Thompson, Rick Adelman, Stu Inman, Larry Weinberg, Caldwell Jones, Jon Spoelstra, Walter Berry, Fernando Martin, Steve Johnson, Arvydas Sabonis, Maurice Lucas, Paul Allen, Brook Steppe, Clifford Robinson, Wayne Cooper, Dražen Petrović, Bucky Buckwalter, Walter Davis, Danny Ainge, Mark Bryant, Joe Wolf, Mario Elie, Tracy Murray, Rod Strickland, Harvey Grant, P.J. Carlesimo, Bob Whitsitt, Otis Thorpe, Aaron McKie, Dick Harter, Chris Cohan, B. J. Armstrong, Jon Barry, Bimbo Coles, Rony Seikaly, Kevin Willis, Joe Smith, Chris Mullin, Rod Higgins, Donyell Marshall, Del Harris, Jerry West, Jerry Buss, Elden Campbell, Nick Van Exel, Byron Scott, Shaquille O'Neal, Robert Horry, Derek Fisher, Eddie Jones, George McCloud, George Karl, Wally Walker, Vin Baker, Dale Ellis, Gary Payton, David Wingate, Nate McMillan, Sam Perkins, Detlef Schrempf, Hersey Hawkins, Greg Anthony, Gregg Popovich, Peter Holt, Tim Duncan, Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr, Avery Johnson, Will Perdue, David Robinson, Antonio Daniels, Malik Rose, Andrew Gaze, Paul Pressey, Herb Kohl, Ernie Grunfeld, Ray Allen, Jason Caffey, Lindsey Hunter, Sam Cassell, Glenn Robinson, Michael Redd, Joel Przybilla, Scott Williams, Ervin Johnson, Rafer Alston and Tim Thomas.