This Week in Oregon Sports History: 7/23/1984

As it turns out, 1984 was not the dystopian catastrophe George Orwell predicted. Instead, the Russians were boycotting the Summer Olympics in LA, the greatest NBA draft class in history was about to settle in with their new teams, Vanessa Williams renounced her Miss America crown because of Penthouse, and crack began to take the LA underground by storm.

More importantly (for the purposes of this blog), on July 23 of that same year, Northwest native and 3-time NBA All-Star Brandon Roy was born in Seattle, Washington. Roy played his high school basketball at Garfield in Seattle. After declaring for the NBA draft before college, he withdrew his name from consideration and went on to have a very successful NCAA career at the University of Washington, where he would earn Pac-10 Player of the Year and All American Honors his senior year.

After graduating, Roy was selected 6th overall by the T-Wolves and acquired in a draft day trade by the Blazers in 2006. "The Natural" would go on to win Rookie of the Year award, and earn All-NBA second and third team honors in 2009 and 2010, respectively, despite dealing with several injuries. Along with his 3 All-Star selections, Roy is the face of the Portland Trailblazers and has the luxury of having a last name that could pass for a first name.