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| Terry Stotts & Roy Tabora
This story actually began about 50 years ago on a remote island in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean. There were no video games, children played outside until dark, drank water from a hose and had big dreams of what they wanted to be when they grew up.
Two middle school kids growing up together bonded on the playground, inventing their own board game played during lunch while friends cheered them on, they worked on creative projects together including painting the school mascot on the gym floor. They encouraged and supported one another in their endeavors not realizing they were setting what was to be the foundation of their future. Their story never changed as they got older, one to play professional basketball and the other to be a professional artist.
Full of ambition and following their hearts the friends journeyed their separate paths leaving the shores of Guam behind and these future stars on the court and canvas headed towards their destiny.
No longer kids these men continued to move forward as they worked hard to achieve their respective accolades. They were doing what they always dreamed but sadly the demands of career, family, and time kept them apart. After many years the stars finally aligned and they found themselves in the same place at the same time on another island in the South Pacific Ocean, Hawaii. The ease and convenience of social media has kept them connected as they continue to joke, jab and support one another just like the old days.
In 2011 The Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Championship, the highlight of the then assistant coach’s career. He sent a team autographed ball to his friend in Hawaii celebrating his team’s triumph. The gauntlet was thrown and the artist reciprocated with a very unique, highly acclaimed painting to his friend with a promise.
The years have once again faded away without the two seeing each other. With an upcoming art show planned at Shaffer Fine Art in Portland the time has finally come for the master of seascapes, acclaimed artist Roy Tabora, to fulfil the promise he made. He has come to experience the energy and excitement of the position his friend had achieved and rightfully belonged in first hand. Roy has crossed the Pacific Ocean to cheer on his friend, head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, Terry Stotts. The two will meet for the first time in years as Terry attends Tabora’s art show.
It’s inspiring to know that if two kids from a remote island in the middle of the South Pacific could blaze a trail and paint their dreams into reality, that possibilities are endless for anyone with a dream.
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