Maybe Neil Everett considered how much the late Bill Walton would’ve enjoyed Sunday’s matchup between No. 7 Gonzaga and Oregon – former and future members of Walton’s beloved Pac-12 “Conference of Champions,” playing in the NBA arena where his No. 32 jersey is retired.
A Waltonism only felt appropriate as Everett, the former ESPN SportsCenter anchor, took a crack at describing the personal conflict he’s facing with the two teams competing at Portland’s Moda Center.
“I never root against either of them and I always root for both of them,” Everett said. “Bill Walton once said, ‘Why must I choose between the things I love the most?’”
On one side is Oregon, Everett’s alma mater. On the other is Gonzaga, a neighboring Northwest program the popular ESPN personality has a special connection to, derived from the 15 years he spent in Spokane as a young child and teenager.
The 3 p.m. game streaming exclusively on Peacock is being coined the Northwest Elite Showdown, although a rebrand to “Neil Everett Showdown” probably wouldn’t receive much pushback.
Everett accepted an invitation from Pat Kilkenny, the former Oregon Athletic Director who’s been an ardent supporter of Gonzaga’s program under Mark Few – and even tried to lure the 27th-year coach to Eugene in 2009 – to serve as the “ambassador” of Sunday’s nonconference showdown in the Rose City.
He’s still not sure what exactly that role entails, only that “if the godfather (Kilkenny) asks me, if he’s got something for me to do, I’ll do it.”
Everett adds: “If not, I’ll hopefully sit by him and watch the game and enjoy it. I can’t lose.”
During a call six days earlier, the ex-ESPN anchor covers virtually every corner of a hypothetical Spokane/Gonzaga/Oregon bingo card.
Conversation bounces from Lewis & Clark High School, where Everett graduated in 1980, to the University of Oregon, the Eugene-based institution he and generations of family members attended. In one instance, Everett’s sharing stories about Gonzaga legend John Stockton; in the next, he’s explaining his unique tie to Oregon great Luke Ridnour. Few and Don Monson naturally come up, as does the 2017 Final Four, where the Ducks were a couple baskets from setting up a Gonzaga-Oregon national title game.
Everett’s probably scores some easy points with Gonzaga fans when he shares a prevailing takeaway from North Carolina’s 71-65 victory in the title game.
“They called that game as if it was a 6-feet and under game,” he said. “I’ll never forget how disappointing that was. Not that they lost, but just how that game was played.”
Everett was born in Portland but moved to Spokane at the age of 3. He was raised by his stepfather, legendary Shadle Park basketball coach Dave Robertson, and attended Lewis and Clark. Everett’s mother, Jackie, was a teacher in Spokane at the former Joseph Jantsch High School, and had a library dedicated in her honor.
Everett played basketball and football at L-C and still has fond memories of the Greater Spokane League, specifically basketball encounters with Gonzaga Prep. The Bullpups had a talented point guard who’d eventually be recognized well outside the 509 area code.
“My claim to fame was (Stockton) never scored any points against me,” Everett said.
The catch?
“Because I was usually on the bench and he was playing,” he laughed. “It says right there, zero points scored against.”
Everett initially attended Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, before transferring to the University of Oregon. An aspiring college basketball coach from Creswell, located 20 minutes outside Eugene, was taking classes at Oregon the same time. It wasn’t until a handful of years later that Everett and Few discovered their college years overlapped.
“Mark said, ‘I can’t believe we didn’t hang out together’ and I said, ‘Mark, had we hung out together, you’d not be nearly as successful as you are today,’” Everett said. “Mark’s got a clearer vision of his college days than I do.”
Everett still has some memories, though – mostly of working Duck basketball and football games as a statistician for the school’s radio broadcasts. He was already familiar with Monson, Oregon’s basketball coach from 1983-92, who spent nearly 20 years at Cheney High and Pasco High, occasionally devising game plans to beat the Shadle Park/Gonzaga Prep teams coached by Everett’s stepdad.
“I took basketball coaching 101 from Don Monson and I took football coaching 101 and got an A in it,” Everett said, “and those are probably the only two A’s I got in college.”
Monson had a role in launching Few’s coaching career, giving him an opportunity to work Oregon’s summer basketball camps. That’s where Few befriended Monson’s son, Dan, who subsequently helped the now-62-year-old GU coach land a graduate assistant spot on Dan Fitzgerald’s staff in Spokane.
“Now I’m dear friends with Dan Monson, who after Fitzgerald really got the whole ball of wax going at Gonzaga, handed it over to Few, who didn’t know it but had been students together,” Everett said. “So it’s kind of a Kevin Bacon scenario in there somehow.”
That being actor Kevin Bacon, who made his film debut in the National Lampoon’s Animal House comedy shot on Oregon’s campus just a handful of years before Everett enrolled. Everything comes full circle.
“The sports, it didn’t matter how good they were per se, it was still embedded in our college culture that we must go to these games just as we must walk by the house that was the Animal House, which I walked by I went to classes, which was not every day,” Everett said. “But every day I went to classes, I walked by the old Animal House right there.”
Everett lost touch with Oregon and Gonzaga working various jobs in Hawaii for 15 years, but an offer from ESPN brought him back to the mainland in 2000. Everett learned about the Coaches vs. Cancer fundraiser Few and wife Marcy helped organize and, as a former Spokane resident whose mother died from cancer, felt compelled to ask if he could help.
“They kept inviting (ESPN colleague) Jay Bilas and finally I’d had enough and I finally called the kid who was running it,” Everett said. “I called (Jared Keefer) up and I said, I’m from Spokane, why the hell can’t I get invited to that thing?”
Everett, who had a deep rolodex of catchphrases and taglines at ESPN, coined Gonzaga as “America’s Team.” He acknowledges the term is probably outdated now, two decades and 27 consecutive NCAA Tournament bids later.
“I think it’s remarkable what he’s has done and he’s the same guy. He even looks the same, he hasn’t aged that much,” Everett said. “The world’s fair put Spokane on the map in ’74. The next biggest thing out of that has been Gonzaga basketball.”
Everett rarely missed chances to pay homage to Gonzaga, Oregon and Spokane during ESPN hits. He routinely referred to teams or individual athletes as “Davenport soft,” a tribute to the hotel’s famous mattresses, or make a reference to the “Whammy” served at Dick’s in downtown Spokane.
(Everett jokingly threatened to end a phone interview Monday night when a reporter admitted they’d never tried the iconic hamburger.)
Ridnour, who’d go on to play 13 seasons in the NBA, starred for Ernie Kent’s Oregon teams in the early 2000s, choosing the Ducks over Gonzaga and a few other schools. Ridnour was born in Coeur d’Alene but the guard’s father, Robin, grew up in Spokane playing for Robertson’s teams at Shadle Park – something Everett never failed to point out when Luke’s highlights came up.
“(Robin) had no idea what the connection was,” Everett said. “And finally he got a hold of me and I said, well here’s the connection, your high school coach was my stepdad.”
Everett retired from ESPN in 2023. He lives in Los Angeles and frequently commutes to Portland to work as a television host for the NBA’s Trail Blazers. A perfect sports weekend nearly aligned for Everett, but Oregon’s College Football Playoff opener against James Madison fell on Saturday, as opposed to Friday, conflicting with the Blazers’ game against Sacramento.
“I would’ve had a trifecta,” Everett said. “All I need is a (Lynyrd) Skynyrd concert Monday and I’d be all in.”
Everett keeps busy in Los Angeles with a podcast he recently launched with former ESPN partner Stan Verett, titled the “Stan and Neil Show,” and spends time with his wife, three dogs and cat.
“A little yoga and I’ve never moved that fast in my life to begin with,” he said, “so I kind of take it slow.”
Last Saturday, Everett attended the Heisman Trophy presentation in New York City. Gonzaga’s late tipoff against UCLA wasn’t popular among fans and coaches (see: Mick Cronin), but the 11:30 p.m. Eastern start fell at a perfect time for Everett, who was able to turn the game on when he returned to his hotel.
“I fell asleep with the TV on at halftime,” Everett said.
Sunday’s afternoon tip time is more palatable.
“What you’ve got coming up there is you’ve got two future Hall of Fame coaches, for sure, who’ve been so close to biting the apple,” he said. “I can’t think of anything better to do on the 21st.”