New TV Voice of the Portland Trail Blazers

It was announced by the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday that Jordan Kent is now the new TV voice of the Portland Trail Blazers on NBC Sports Northwest.

Kent finished up the 2020 NBA campaign once the season resumed as previous play-by-play host Kevin Calabro resigned during the break in the season.

Kent graduated from Winston Churchill High School in Eugene (the same high school as this writer), where he excelled in basketball and track and is the holder of 11 individual and team state championships. Kent is a son of former Oregon men's basketball player and Head Coach Ernie Kent, who was also the Head Coach at Saint Mary's and most recently, Washington State. 

Jordan Kent later became a three-sport letterman (football, men's basketball and track) at Oregon, the first Pac-10 Conference three-sport letterman. After Oregon, he played in the National Football League, having been drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in 2007, mainly playing on special teams and lined up as a receiver against Miami during the 2008 season. 

After he was cut in 2009 by the Seahawks, he signed with the St. Louis Rams and was cut in 2010.

Kent has also covered Pac-12 football, track and basketball games.

His knowledge of sports, his broadcast background and having filled in with the Blazers TV crew at the end of the 2020 season will help him a great deal as he prepares for the upcoming 72-game regular season campaign, slated to start on December 22nd. Let's hope that Blazers President Chris McGowan gives him every opportunity to succeed. 

Kent and Blazers TV analyst Lamar Hurd, have such outstanding chemistry and they sound like they're having fun when they're on TV. I hope they're together for years to come.

Bill Crawford is a long-time radio personality in Eugene currently with KKNX and KEED, along with being a radio Account Executive with KKNX, KEED and KORE (Fox Sports Eugene). Crawford is also a freelance sportscaster as he's the radio play-by-play voice of the Eugene Challengers American Legion baseball team on KKNX and also for Wynne Broadcasting in Klamath Falls as the play-by-play voice of Henley High School football and post-season football, basketball, softball and baseball for Henley, Mazama and Lost River High Schools. He is a 1978 graduate of Southern Oregon University in Ashland with a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Communications and a 1974 graduate of Churchill High School in Eugene, where he played football and was also in track and field. 

He can be reached by email at 56bcrawford@gmail.com.