Timber Jim Memories - August 29, 2003

This week, as we prepare for Timber Jim's retirement night at PGE Park at the season opener on April 17, I will recollect about four of the most memorable days for Timbers fans since Timber Jim returned from retirement to re-join the Timbers when they re-emerged in 2001 in the United Soccer Leagues. Today I will talk about the day Clive Charles' number was retired, and Timber Jim tried to retire for the first time. Parts of this are excerpted from the article I wrote on that evening, which is linked at the bottom.

August 29, 2003 will be remembered by Timbers fans as the night they put Clive Charles’ #3 on the PGE Park rafters, the first (and only) Timbers number to be retired. 13,351 fans watched that night, the largest crowd the USL Timbers had seen, and a record which would not be eclipsed for several years. The Timbers legend had passed away from cancer just three days before, after this fitting tribute had already been scheduled, but there was another significance to this night for Timbers fans. Timber Jim had (quietly) announced his retirement, and this was to be his final official match.

A few weeks previously, on August 16, while the world was watching news on major blackouts that affected the Northeast, an article quietly slipped out on OregonLive's website (the site largely disabled by the blackout), and in the Oregonian, stating that Timber Jim was retiring. At the time, it was announced that Timber Jim would not be returning for the final three home games, as Jim had taken a job in Seattle that would only allow him to return for the weekends.

But on this evening at PGE Park, it would not have been complete without Timber Jim there, and as the game began, the familiar white beard and smile of the beloved Timber Jim was there, proudly leading the cheers of the crowd and firing up the chainsaw, just as he had done in the days when Clive Charles patrolled the defense for the Timbers in their NASL heyday.

After Clive's retired jersey had been unveiled, general manager Jim Taylor announced that Timber Jim would be sawing a piece off the log in Clive's honor, and just as he had done hundreds of times before, Timber Jim sawed the last few inches off a log that was set up behind the north goal, and brought the piece out to midfield and presented it to Clive’s son Michael, who held the piece aloft as the crowd once again rose to their feet in applause, as did the Timbers players, who had been sitting on the turf along the touchline during the presentation.

Even though this was Clive's night, after the match, an appropriate 3-0 victory on this night when #3 was retired, many Timbers fans turned their thoughts to their beloved Timber Jim. He had returned for this one match, but his time as the Timbers mascot was over, and the Timbers Army and other Timbers fans had mementos for Jim, including a trophy fashioned from a cut log with Jim proudly standing on a pole atop the trophy (with the log having been signed by most of the regular Timbers Army supporters), a handmade green and yellow Timbers axe, and a photo of Timber Jim signed by the Timbers Army supporters. Timber Jim himself was in tears as he left the field that night, and literally dozens of supporters had to give their beloved symbol of the Timbers for the past quarter century a handshake or a hug, to thank him for what he had done for the Timbers, and to let him know he would be missed.

He had mentioned that he’d like to come back now and then for a special occasion, but it would be a tragic event that would take place almost exactly a year later that would cause him to change his mind about retirement, at least for a little while, and would change the lives of everyone associated with the club as a fan, player, or employee; and eventually would also affect a group of people 4,700 miles away in England, who had likely never even heard of the Portland Timbers.