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The basketball world is mourning the loss of a legendary sports broadcaster this week.
Bill Schonely, who became the original voice of the Portland Trail Blazers in 1970, passed away this week according to a report from Kerry Eggers. He was 93 years old.
“Legendary broadcaster Bill Schonely has died. He was 93. A great friend, a great person. R.I.P. City, Schonz,” Eggers said.
Schonely famously coined the phrase “Rip City.” In a 2022 interview Anne Peterson of The Associated Press, Schonely revealed how the call came together.
“I was gonna say it ‘Rip the twine’ or something but I came up with ‘Rip City! All right!′ And look what happened,” he said. “It took a little while for that phrase to catch on. I had no idea that all of this was going to happen. But it did, and wherever you go, it’s humbling to me, but it’s ‘Rip City.’”
Schonely was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 and earned the Curt Gowdy award from the NBA’s Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.
Our thoughts are with the Schonely family.
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