(born July 5, 1959) The time was right.  You know the years, 1976 & 77.  The birth of Rip City.  The state of Oregon was crazy for basketball.  The champion Trail Blazers, the Kamikaze Kids and some of the best years of high school basketball in history.

In the center of it all was Grant High School and their floor leader, Mark Radford.

The Portland native was a household name playing for Tom Jones’ teams at Grant.  The Generals record was 49-6 over Mark’s junior and senior seasons, both years losing to eventual state champion North Eugene, one in the semis, then again in the 1977 final.

Radford was named all-tournament those two years and all state in 1977 along with future Oregon State backcourt mate Ray Blume.

Ralph Miller knew he had something brewing when he brought Radford and Blume together with his large freshmen group in the fall of 1977.

This was the genesis of the legendary Orange Express.  Mark was an immediate impact player, averaging 30 minutes per game, scoring in double figures all 4 of his collegiate seasons.  Just like his fellow guard Ray Blume, Mark shot over 50% from the field for his career.

It all came together in the two magical seasons of 1980 and ‘81.  The Beavers won back-to-back Pac-10 titles and sat on top of the college hoop world.  Radford ran the offense the way Miller intended, passes never hitting the ground, everyone a threat to score.   He was named All-Pac-10 in 1981, averaging 13 points per game and grabbing a career-high 61 total steals.

Radford is on the Oregon State career top-10 lists for scoring, field goals made, assists and steals.

Mark’s basketball talents stayed in the Northwest for the duration of his career.  He was selected in the third round of the 1981 draft by the Seattle Super Sonics and played in 97 NBA games over two seasons.

After basketball, Mark has enjoyed a long and successful real estate career, raised a family and still has some moves on the hardwood.

We welcome Mark Radford to the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.