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In 1972, Ray Leary was co-captain of Jefferson High School's state championship basketball team. Thirty years later, his trajectory from sports superstar to Portland-area developer tracks like the arc of a perimeter jump shot.
But Leary, one of the developers responsible for Northeast Portland's Vanport Square, has learned that being the team captain doesn't necessarily mean being the team's best player.
"(He's) a relationship guy," says Jeff Sackett, a fellow developer who worked with Leary on Vanport Square. "His No. 1 goal is working for his neighborhood."
Leary's 10-year-old project, Vanport Square, located in a neighborhood he calls his community, finally opened last month. But the former high school basketball player and coach - who mentored Portland hoops hero Damon Stoudamire - says the development, a testament to Portland's African American heritage, would not have finished had he not had such a good team.
It took more than a decade to develop that team.
Developing a mentor
"I wouldn't say Ray Leary knows everyone in Portland, but damn near," Sackett says.
Whether dealing with CEOs, politicians or community organizers, Leary knows how to grease the gears of human interaction, Sackett says.
But it was actually a serious of fortunate events that led Leary to foster relationships with the most powerful businessmen in Portland.
While working as a basketball coach, during the 1980s, Leary was also working for Self Enhancement Inc., a non-profit youth guidance organization headed by a Jefferson High School basketball teammate, Tony Hopson. At SEI, Leary was the director of development, and used his team building skills to help the organization expand.
The turning point for Leary came when he was introduced to...