Chris Dudley
Encyclopedia
Christen Guilford "Chris" Dudley (born February 22, 1965) is a retired American basketball
player who played 16 years and 886 games in the NBA
for five different teams. A journeyman
center
, he was known primarily for his defensive skill as a rebounder
and shot blocker
. In 2010, he was the Republican
nominee for Governor of Oregon
.
, the son of Elizabeth Josephine (née Kovacs, c.1941- ), a teacher, and Guilford Dudley III (c. 1932- ), a minister. His maternal grandfather, also a minister, immigrated from Hungary
, and his paternal grandfather was Guilford Dudley
, who was U.S.
ambassador
to Denmark
under the Nixon
and Ford
presidential administrations.
Dudley played high school basketball at Torrey Pines High School
in San Diego, California
. Dudley was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 16. He attended Yale University
, where he played NCAA
basketball for the Bulldogs
from 1983 to 1987 and earned degree
s in political science
and economics
.
during the 1987–88 NBA season. During his rookie season, he played in 55 of 82 games, averaging three points per game. During the 1989-1990 season, he was traded to the New Jersey Nets
. He played three years with the Nets, including the 1990–91 season, in which he enjoyed his best scoring average: 7.1 points per game in 61 contests. In the 1991-1992 season, he was available for all 82 games, one of only two such years in his career. In the 1992-1993 season, he was a bench contributor as the Nets went to their second playoff spot in two years. The summer after that season, Petrović died in a car accident in Germany
, and Dudley went to the Portland Trail Blazers
.
An injury kept Dudley out of all but six games during his first season in Portland. Though teammate Clyde Drexler
was shipped to the Houston Rockets
in the middle of the next season, Dudley and the Blazers made it to the playoffs. After playing 161 games for the Blazers between 1995 and 1997, Dudley went to the New York Knicks
, where he backed up Patrick Ewing
for three seasons.
In 1999, he reached the NBA Finals
for the only time in his career, but the Knicks were eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs
, four games to one. Later that year, he grabbed his 5,000th NBA rebound during a game between the Knicks and the Detroit Pistons
.
After his stint with the Knicks, Dudley went on to play with the Phoenix Suns
, participating in 53 games in the 2000–01 season. He returned to the Trail Blazers in 2002, and retired after playing three games during the 2002–03 season.
In a career total of 886 NBA games, Dudley scored 3473 points (3.9 points per game), 375 assist
s (0.4 assists per game), 1027 blocked shots (1.2 blocks per game) and 5457 rebounds (6.2 rebounds per game). He was the recipient of the NBA's J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award
in 1996, and USA Today
' s Most Caring Athlete Award in 1997.
In 1990, Dudley missed 13 consecutive free throws, setting an NBA record. In 1989, he set the record for most free throws missed in a single trip to the foul line, missing five consecutive free throws after the opposing team committed three lane violations.
boys' basketball team, where he mentored UCLA-bound star Kevin Love.
In early 2006, Dudley became vice president of M Financial Wealth Management. Since October 2008, he has been a wealth management
partner with Filigree Advisors.
resident, was encouraged by the Republican Party to consider a run for the U.S. House of Representatives. Dudley declined to run for Congress, preferring to spend more time in the state. On October 11, 2009, The Oregonian
reported that Dudley was considering entering the Republican primary for Oregon governor in 2010. In November 2009 he formed a campaign committee and raised roughly $340,000 by early December of the same year. Dudley formally announced his entry into the race on December 16. On March 6, 2010, The Oregonian
reported Dudley had raised over $1 million, aided by a $50,000 donation from Nike co-founder Phil Knight
.
In May 2010, Dudley won 39% of the vote in a crowded Republican primary to win the GOP nomination, and prepared to face former governor John Kitzhaber
in the November general election. On September 29, 2010, The Register-Guard
reported that Chris Dudley's campaign had received $5.6 million, more than twice than what was raised by the Kitzhaber campaign. His primary sponsors included in-state timber companies, industry trade groups, and Portland area business executives, including Nike chairman and co-founder Phil Knight. The election was extremely close as polls had indicated, but Kitzhaber prevailed 49%–48%.
with their three children.
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
player who played 16 years and 886 games in the NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
for five different teams. A journeyman
Journeyman (sports)
A journeyman or journeywoman is an athlete or professional sports player who is technically competent, but unable to excel. In certain parts of the world the term has less negative connotations and the inability to excel is not needed for a player to be labelled thus.-Definitions:Alexandra Allred...
center
Center (basketball)
The center, colloquially known as the five or the post, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. The center is normally the tallest player on the team, and often has a great deal of strength and body mass as well...
, he was known primarily for his defensive skill as a rebounder
Rebound (basketball)
A rebound in basketball is the act of successfully gaining possession of the basketball after a missed field goal or free throw. Rebounds in basketball are a routine part in the game, as all possessions change after a shot is successfully made...
and shot blocker
Block (basketball)
In basketball, a block , not to be confused with blocking, occurs when a defensive player legally deflects a field goal attempt from an offensive player. The defender must not touch the offensive player's hands or otherwise a foul is called. In order to be legal, the block must occur while the shot...
. In 2010, he was the Republican
Oregon Republican Party
The Oregon Republican Party is the state affiliate of the United States Republican Party in Oregon, headquartered in Lake Oswego. The first state party convention was held in Salem on April 21, 1859, and its first nominee for Congress, Portland attorney David Logan...
nominee for Governor of Oregon
Governor of Oregon
The Governor of Oregon is the top executive of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. territorial governments....
.
Early life and education
Dudley was born in Stamford, ConnecticutStamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, the son of Elizabeth Josephine (née Kovacs, c.1941- ), a teacher, and Guilford Dudley III (c. 1932- ), a minister. His maternal grandfather, also a minister, immigrated from Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, and his paternal grandfather was Guilford Dudley
Guilford Dudley (ambassador)
Guilford Dudley , was the United States ambassador to Denmark under the Nixon and Ford presidential administrations. From 1952 until 1969 Dudley served as president of Life & Casualty Insurance Company...
, who was U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
under the Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
and Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
presidential administrations.
Dudley played high school basketball at Torrey Pines High School
Torrey Pines High School
Torrey Pines High School is a high school in the North County Coastal area of San Diego, California. The school is named after the Torrey Pine tree that grows in the area...
in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
. Dudley was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 16. He attended Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, where he played NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
basketball for the Bulldogs
Yale Bulldogs
The Yale Bulldogs are the athletic teams of the Yale University. The school sponsors 35 varsity sports. The school has won two NCAA national championships in women's fencing, four in men's swimming and diving, and twenty one in men's golf.-Men's baseball:...
from 1983 to 1987 and earned degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
s in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
and economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
.
NBA career
Dudley began playing with the Cleveland CavaliersCleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They began playing in the National Basketball Association in 1970 as an expansion team...
during the 1987–88 NBA season. During his rookie season, he played in 55 of 82 games, averaging three points per game. During the 1989-1990 season, he was traded to the New Jersey Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
. He played three years with the Nets, including the 1990–91 season, in which he enjoyed his best scoring average: 7.1 points per game in 61 contests. In the 1991-1992 season, he was available for all 82 games, one of only two such years in his career. In the 1992-1993 season, he was a bench contributor as the Nets went to their second playoff spot in two years. The summer after that season, Petrović died in a car accident in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and Dudley went to the Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The Trail Blazers originally played their home games in the...
.
An injury kept Dudley out of all but six games during his first season in Portland. Though teammate Clyde Drexler
Clyde Drexler
Clyde Austin "Clyde The Glide" Drexler is a former National Basketball Association shooting guard and small forward. A ten-time All-Star and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, the NBA named him one of basketball's fifty greatest players as of 1996. Drexler won an Olympic gold medal in 1992 and...
was shipped to the Houston Rockets
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...
in the middle of the next season, Dudley and the Blazers made it to the playoffs. After playing 161 games for the Blazers between 1995 and 1997, Dudley went to the New York Knicks
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
, where he backed up Patrick Ewing
Patrick Ewing
Patrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. is a Jamaican-American retired Hall of Fame basketball player and current assistant coach for the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic. He played most of his career with the NBA's New York Knicks as their starting center and played briefly with the Seattle...
for three seasons.
In 1999, he reached the NBA Finals
NBA Finals
The NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association . The series was named the NBA World Championship Series until 1986....
for the only time in his career, but the Knicks were eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
, four games to one. Later that year, he grabbed his 5,000th NBA rebound during a game between the Knicks and the Detroit Pistons
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are a franchise of the National Basketball Association based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was originally founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons as a member of the National Basketball League in 1941, where...
.
After his stint with the Knicks, Dudley went on to play with the Phoenix Suns
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association and the only team in their division not to be based in California. Their home arena since 1992 has been the US...
, participating in 53 games in the 2000–01 season. He returned to the Trail Blazers in 2002, and retired after playing three games during the 2002–03 season.
In a career total of 886 NBA games, Dudley scored 3473 points (3.9 points per game), 375 assist
Assist (basketball)
In basketball, an assist is attributed to a player who passes the ball to a teammate in a way that leads to a score by field goal, meaning that he or she was "assisting" in the basket. There is some judgment involved in deciding whether a passer should be credited with an assist...
s (0.4 assists per game), 1027 blocked shots (1.2 blocks per game) and 5457 rebounds (6.2 rebounds per game). He was the recipient of the NBA's J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award
J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award
The J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award is an annual National Basketball Association award given since the 1974–75 NBA season to a player, coach, or trainer who shows "outstanding service and dedication to the community"...
in 1996, and USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
In 1990, Dudley missed 13 consecutive free throws, setting an NBA record. In 1989, he set the record for most free throws missed in a single trip to the foul line, missing five consecutive free throws after the opposing team committed three lane violations.
Post NBA
In 1998, he opened the Chris Dudley Foundation, an Oregon-based group intended to improve the lives of diabetic children. He received an NBA award as well as other community awards for founding the organization. From 2005 to 2007, he was a volunteer assistant coach for the Lake Oswego High SchoolLake Oswego High School
Lake Oswego High School is a public high school in Lake Oswego, Oregon. LOHS is accredited through the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.-History:...
boys' basketball team, where he mentored UCLA-bound star Kevin Love.
In early 2006, Dudley became vice president of M Financial Wealth Management. Since October 2008, he has been a wealth management
Wealth management
Wealth management is an investment advisory discipline that incorporates financial planning, investment portfolio management and a number of aggregated financial services...
partner with Filigree Advisors.
2010 Oregon gubernatorial campaign
In the summer of 2009, Dudley, a Lake OswegoLake Oswego, Oregon
Lake Oswego is a city located primarily in Clackamas County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Small portions of the city are also located in neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located south of Portland surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town was founded in 1847 and incorporated as Oswego in...
resident, was encouraged by the Republican Party to consider a run for the U.S. House of Representatives. Dudley declined to run for Congress, preferring to spend more time in the state. On October 11, 2009, The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
reported that Dudley was considering entering the Republican primary for Oregon governor in 2010. In November 2009 he formed a campaign committee and raised roughly $340,000 by early December of the same year. Dudley formally announced his entry into the race on December 16. On March 6, 2010, The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
reported Dudley had raised over $1 million, aided by a $50,000 donation from Nike co-founder Phil Knight
Phil Knight
Philip Hampson "Phil" Knight is an American business magnate. He is the co-founder and Chairman of Nike, Inc. He resigned as the company's chief executive officer in 2004, while retaining the position of chairman of the board...
.
In May 2010, Dudley won 39% of the vote in a crowded Republican primary to win the GOP nomination, and prepared to face former governor John Kitzhaber
John Kitzhaber
John Albert Kitzhaber is the 37th Governor of Oregon. He served as the 35th Governor of Oregon from 1995 to 2003 and became the first person to be elected to the office three times when he was re-elected to a non-consecutive third term in 2010...
in the November general election. On September 29, 2010, The Register-Guard
The Register-Guard
The Register-Guard is a daily newspaper published in Eugene, Oregon, United States. It was formed in a 1930 merger of two Eugene papers, the Eugene Daily Guard and the Morning Register. The paper serves the Eugene-Springfield area, as well as the Oregon Coast, Umpqua River Valley, and surrounding...
reported that Chris Dudley's campaign had received $5.6 million, more than twice than what was raised by the Kitzhaber campaign. His primary sponsors included in-state timber companies, industry trade groups, and Portland area business executives, including Nike chairman and co-founder Phil Knight. The election was extremely close as polls had indicated, but Kitzhaber prevailed 49%–48%.
Personal life
Dudley and his wife, also named Chris, live in Lake Oswego, OregonLake Oswego, Oregon
Lake Oswego is a city located primarily in Clackamas County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Small portions of the city are also located in neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located south of Portland surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town was founded in 1847 and incorporated as Oswego in...
with their three children.
Charitable work
During his playing career, Dudley donated $300,000 to a non-profit organization to help pay the cost of college tuition for a class of fourth-graders at Vernon Elementary School in Portland.External links
- Chris Dudley Foundation
- Biography at NBA.com
- Chris Dudley for Governor official campaign site