(June 26, 1962 – February 18, 2015) Jerome Kersey came to the Portland Trail Blazers from Longwood College, an NCAA Division II school, where he set school records for points, rebounds, steals, and blocked shots, with a 57% shooting record. Portland selected him in the 1984 NBA draft and he immediately became a regular contributor off the bench. Hitting his stride in his third year with the Blazers, he became a starter, and was part of the nucleus of a strong Portland team , along with Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter that made it to the NBA Finals two out of the next three years (1990 and 1992).

As a Trail Blazer, Jerome was near the top in many of Portland’s career categories at the time, including games played (second), minutes (third), scoring (third), rebounding (second), assists (sixth), steals (third), field goals (fourth), and blocked shots (second).

In more recent years, Kersey was hired by the Trail Blazers to serve as director of player programs during the 2003-04 NBA season. He then rejoined his former teammate, Terry Porter as assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks.

In November 2005, Jerome Kersey entered Longwood’s first Hall of Fame class, and this past year, was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.