From Portland hoops to politics

PORTLAND (Ivy League/NBA) - Another Ivy Leaguer and former NBA basketball player is becoming a prominent face in American politics.
 
First there was former Princeton and New York Knicks star Bill Bradley, who was a three-term Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey.
 
Now there is Yale graduate and former NBA center Chris Dudley.
 
The seven-footer, whose 16-year NBA career began in 1987 with the Cleveland Cavaliers and ended with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2003, has won the Republican nomination for governor of Oregon.
 
Dudley was best known for his rebounding and shot-blocking.
 
He was not, however, a good free-throw shooter.
 
Twenty years ago, he set an NBA record with 13 straight misses at the line.
 
Dudley has been a great role model for kids.
 
He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1981 but showed through hard work in the classroom, on the court and after professional basketball that one can still have a very productive and happy life.
 
In 1998, he opened the Chris Dudley Foundation in Oregon to improve the lives of diabetic children.
 
Oregon will decide in the autumn if he is to be their next governor.
 
In the 2000 presidential primaries, Bradley, who turns 67 in July, ran against incumbent Al Gore and lost.
 
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