RIP Rene Portland

[jr/shotglass]

Like quite a few Penn State coaches in recent years, she didn't exactly go out in a blaze of glory. But Portland was one of the pioneers of contemporary women's basketball, beginning with her days at Immaculata.

Former Penn State women's hoops coach Rene Portland dies at 65

 

[da man]

I remember interviewing her once about injuries and she told me a story about her dog, who one day started limping and wound up being diagnosed with a torn ACL. The dog had surgery on the knee and within a couple of days was running around at top speed like nothing ever happened. The next day after practice she told that to her team and finished with the punch line: "If any of you goes down with a torn ACL, forget the doctor. I'm taking you to the vet."

 

[Big Circus]

Bad summer for the women's game between her and Anne Donovan.

 

[jr/shotglass]

I'll always remember those piercing blue eyes that looked right through you if she heard something she didn't like.

 

[Moderator1]

Is she the coach who openly declared she wouldn't recruit gay players? Perhaps I should actually read the obit

 

[terrier]

Is she the coach who openly declared she wouldn't recruit gay players? Perhaps I should actually read the obit

She was. And when that created the inevitable problems, JoePa always had her back.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Is she the coach who openly declared she wouldn't recruit gay players? Perhaps I should actually read the obit

The linked story buried that pretty seriously, especially considering the player in question was one of the best ever to come from this area. My daughter wore Jennifer Harris' sneaker marks on her chest more than once.

Jennifer Harris - Wikipedia

 

[tapintoamerica]

That’s often the dilemma in an obit. If someone has a major black mark in an otherwise successful career, what do you do? Parallel that comes to mind is Woody Hayes.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Is she the coach who openly declared she wouldn't recruit gay players? Perhaps I should actually read the obit

The obit did not clarify. Was that issue ever definitively solved?

My alma mater going to State College and knocking off one of Portland's better teams in the NCAAs was a highlight of school days.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Penn State lawyers settled when it was apparent they were going to lose.

 

[Liut]

The obit did not clarify. Was that issue ever definitively solved?

My alma mater going to State College and knocking off one of Portland's better teams in the NCAAs was a highlight of school days.

Hey there, Sam Mills 51! Great to see you back here! Maybe you have been for a while, but I don't check in nearly as much anymore.

Regarding Rene … she treated me very well when I covered her teams back in the old Rec Hall days. May she rest in peace.

 

[wicked]

I dealt with Rene a couple of times.

She could be charming.

She also was caustic, and she was great at manipulating the local media. She was in a small college town and escaped scrutiny for years. Her teams came up short a number of times in the tournament, even in the days before UConn became UConn. I don’t recall much uproar.

I also recall she was a big supporter of Coaches v Cancer and the work it does.

The Jennifer Harris story was an ugly one. There was so much more out there that wasn’t reported at the time, in part because Rene (like Paterno) knew how to play the game.

She put the program in the upper echelon of D-1, but she also held women’s basketball back with her anti-gay crap (though it sounded great to a family when she was making a recruiting pitch somewhere in rural PA).

 

[YankeeFan]

She also was caustic, and she was great at manipulating the local media. She was in a small college town and escaped scrutiny for years.

I'm having a hard time believing this.

I'm told the local paper is a Pulitzer Prize winner. I doubt they would have let a coach get away with such behavior.

 

[wicked]

I'm having a hard time believing this.

I'm told the local paper is a Pulitzer Prize winner. I doubt they would have let a coach get away with such behavior.

Harrisburg is 90 or 100 miles away from State College. I can’t remember the Patriot-News staffing a regular season game, but my brain sucks anymore.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Harrisburg is 90 or 100 miles away from State College. I can’t remember the Patriot-News staffing a regular season game, but my brain sucks anymore.

Guessing you’re referring to a paper closer to the CENTRE of Penn State’s campus that reports the DAILY happenings of the TIMES.

 

[YankeeFan]

Guessing you’re referring to a paper closer to the CENTRE of Penn State’s campus that reports the DAILY happenings of the TIMES.

Nicely done.

 

[BTExpress]

Who's better, Rene Portland, Seattle or Vancouver?

 

[swingline]

Well struck, good sir. Well struck.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Harrisburg is 90 or 100 miles away from State College. I can’t remember the Patriot-News staffing a regular season game, but my brain sucks anymore.

I was probably the last person to go up there on a semi-regular basis, some three decades ago. Off and on, we would have a stringer staffing their home games.

 

[wicked]

Yeah, at many games a stringer, including a legendary one who went on to much bigger things.