Nightfly

Larry Steele's number 15 was retired on October 11th, 1981 during a preseason game (along with Geoff Petrie).

He was Selected in 3rd round, 37th pick overall, in the 1971 NBA Draft out of the University of Kentucky.

Steele was Portland's original Iron man. He played 9 seasons, all for the Blazers. When he left the team he had played in more games then any other Trail Blazer at the time.

He was the first Blazer to lead the league in a stat category, when he lead the NBA in steals during the '73-'74 season (which was also the first year steals were kept as an official stat).

During the 1977 Championship run, Steele helped out off the bench (he only started 9 games during the '76-'77 season). Despite not starting, he had his best year statically averaging 10.3 points per game, shooting .500 from the floor (and .806 from the foul line).

He retired following the '79-80 season after playing in just 16 games.

Post your memories about Larry Steele here!

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Once known as HearToTemptYou.

RedHot&Rolling

It's been a long time since I had memories of Larry Steele, but here goes:

He had a wonderful and accurate 3-pt Shot (set shot style - no jump) before that was another category. His 50% from the field included (IIRC) shots from long distance (pre 3pt shot). He had really quick hands which allowed him to lead the league in steals one year. He was always the guy who would lay it on the line, leaving his feet to dive for loose balls. The guy played the right way!!

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Trail Blazers Fan since Walton was injured the first time!
OSU Beavers Alumni & Fan since Ralph Miller's Orange Express -

"Fans cheer when they have reason to." Stop the programmed noise!!

MARIS61

I was at a game where he took an inbound pass with 1 sec on the clock at halftime and drained a 70 footer.

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