About Us
Larry Steele
Larry Steele is a former professional basketball player, best known for being on the Portland Trail Blazers team that won the 1977 NBA Finals. Born in Indiana, he played basketball at Bainbridge High School where he was selected All-County, All-Sectional, All-Regional, All- Semi-State, Indianapolis News 1st Team All-State, and a member of the Indiana All-Star Team. In 2003, he was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
He played collegiately at the University of Kentucky under coach Adolph Rupp. At the University of Kentucky, he was a three-year starter, averaging 13.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game. He was selected 1st Team All-SEC twice, Co-captain, MVP, Leadership Award, Hustle Award, led the UK team in assists and free throws.
He was drafted by the Trail Blazers in 1971, at the start of the Blazers’ second season and became a roster mainstay for nine years. He played 20.7 MPG on the 1977 championship team (starting nine games) averaging a career high 10.3 points per game. In a game against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1974, he was one assist short of accomplishing an extremely rare “quadruple-double” (a performance in which a player accumulates a double digit number total in four of five statistical categories-points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots-in a game).
Knee injuries forced Coach Steele into retirement at the end of the 1979–80 season and the Trail Blazers retired his jersey (15) on October 11, 1981.
After his playing days, he worked in the Blazers front office in marketing and served as a commentator and broadcaster for the NBA on CBS and as a head coach at the University of Portland from 1987 to 1994. He has been running the Larry Steele Basketball Camp since 1988.
Coach Steele lives at Camp Cedar Ridge during the week, and is dedicated to being personally involved at each of his camps. He conducts many of the daily clinics, lectures and demonstrations and interacts with every camper.
Camp Directors-Boys Camp
Jeff Tachney is co-camp director with Bill Schimel. Jeff graduated in 1998 from Clackamas High School where he played Varsity basketball for three years and was second team All League his senior year. He graduated from Umpqua College in 2000 where he played basketball on a full scholarship. He was an All Conference Player in 1999-2000. He graduated from Southern Oregon University in 2003 where he also played basketball on a full scholarship and was an Honorable Mention All American. He has a sixteen year career with Portland Fire and Rescue and is currently a Lieutenant. Bill Schimel will also be co-camp director for the girls’ camp (see his bio below).
Camp Directors-Girls Camp
Kari Schimel and her husband Bill are the co-camp directors for the girl’s camp. Kari is Larry Steele’s daughter and has been playing basketball since she could walk. Kari’s basketball career includes State Championship team with Lake Oswego High School, San Jose State, and 17 years as both a youth and high school basketball coach. She is currently the Fire Marshal with Portland Fire & Rescue. Bill Schimel’s basketball career includes two years of State Championship teams for Corbett High School, and 18 years as both a youth and high school basketball coach. Last year, he was the head coach for
the Corbett runner up State Championship Team. Their daughters and son have attended the camp for many years in the past and will be at camp again this summer.
Staff
Larry and our Camp Directors handpick our staff. Our coaches consist primarily of High School level coaches, College level players, and outstanding youth coaches. Counselors are typically college age. Examples of our staff include two amazing coaches who will be attending both boys and girls camp: Rosie Contri and Sean Brokaw. Rosie has a unique ability to create a positive learning environment with unmatched enthusiasm that she developed in her 18 years of coaching experience. Sean is one of the best coaches for teaching the fundamentals of the game, particularly for solid skill development for our youngest campers. Sean has over 30 years of coaching experience at the high school, college and professional levels.
We have one coach per ten campers and one counselor to an average of 20 campers. Including Coach Steele, the staff to camper ratio is typically 8 campers to each staff member.
Quadruple-Double
A quadruple-double is defined as a performance in which a player accumulates a double digit number total in four of five statistical categories-points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots-in a game. This feat is extremely rare: only four players have officially recorded a quadruple-double in National Basketball Association (NBA) history.
Only seven other players (one did it twice) have managed to finish with triple-doubles and a total of 9 in a fourth statistical category (statistical categories in which they fell short are in bold):
Name |
Date |
Team |
Opponent |
Minutes |
Points |
Rebounds |
Assists |
Steal |
Blocks |
Overtime |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
RickBarry |
October 29, 1974 |
Golden State Warriors |
Buffalo Braves |
43 |
30 |
10 |
11 |
9 |
- |
No |
|
Larry Steele |
November 16, 1974 |
Portland Trail Blazers |
Los Angeles Lakers |
44 |
12 |
11 |
9 |
10 |
- |
No |
|
Johnny Moore |
January 8, 1985 |
San Antonio Spurs |
Golden State Warriors |
36 |
26 |
11 |
13 |
9 |
- |
No |
|
Larry Bird [a] |
February 18, 1985 |
Boston Celtics |
Utah Jazz |
33 |
30 |
12 |
10 |
9 |
- |
No |
|
Micheal Ray Richardson |
October 30, 1985 |
New Jersey Nets |
Indiana Pacers |
54 |
38 |
11 |
11 |
9 |
- |
Yes (3 OT) |
|
Clyde Drexler |
January 10, 1986 |
Portland Trail Blazers |
Milwaukee Bucks
|
42 |
26 |
9 |
11 |
10 |
- |
No |
|
Hakeem Olajuwon [b] |
March 3, 1990 |
Houston Rockets |
Golden State Warriors |
40 |
29 |
18 |
9 |
5 |
11 |
No |
|
Clyde Drexler |
November 1, 1996 |
Houston Rockets |
Sacramento Kings |
42 |
25 |
10 |
9 |
10 |
- |
No |
- [a] Bird sat out the entire fourth quarter. After three quarters, head coach K. C. Jones informed Bird that he was one steal away from a quadruple-double and asked if he wanted to stay in the game. Bird declined, saying that he "already did enough damage."
- [b] Olajuwon was credited with 9 assists in the original box score. However, after Rockets officials reviewed the game tape and discovered what they believe was an uncredited assist in the first quarter, they revised the box score, crediting Olajuwon with 10 assists and the third quadruple-double in NBA history. NBA's director of operations, Rod Thorn, requested to review the tape. After reviewing the tape, the league disallowed Olajuwon's quadruple-double and announced that his original line—with 9 assists—is official.