John Haley is a Corvallis city bus driver. Before that, he was the maintenance supervisor for a lumber mill. He's also worked as an electrician, a welder and a millwright.

But maybe a better way to describe him is Portland Trail Blazer fan.

When Haley's Route 5 bus pulls into the downtown transit center, the electronic sign on the front cycles through the list of stops - OSU, Kings Boulevard, Timberhill Shopping Center - followed by his personal addition: "Go Blazers!" The slogan goes with him when he drives his other routes, Nos. 2, 3 and 6.

It's one of a dozen or so preprogrammed phrases Corvallis Transit System drivers can plug into their electronic route descriptions. Haley uses several of them - "Go Beavers!" is another frequent choice - but the one he goes with most often is the plug for his favorite NBA team.

"All through basketball season I run it," he said. "I'm still running it now."

Even though the Blazers are out of the playoffs after losing their first-round series to the Houston Rockets, Haley is thrilled with this year's young squad, which won 54 games and returned to the postseason for the first time since 2003.

"The Blazers did a heck of a good job," Haley said. "I'm proud of 'em."

Haley's always been a sports fan. Growing up in Eugene, he used to sneak into Mac Court to watch the Ducks play basketball. Since moving to Corvallis, he's switched his loyalties to the Beavers - especially since the UO football team adopted what Haley calls "the ugliest uniforms in college football."

He started rooting for Portland's pro basketball team back in the late 1980s, the Rip City glory days of Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Buck Williams, Jerome Kersey and Kevin Duckworth.

He began buying and selling sports cards, amassing a big collection of Trail Blazers cards.

"I've got a whole thick notebook of Clyde Drexler," Haley said. "I've even got a complete set of those old Franz Bread Blazer cards."

Making the rounds of card shows gave him the opportunity to meet some of his favorites, including Kersey and Duckworth. At a show in Longview, Wash., he got to hang out with Bill Walton, the hero of Portland's 1977 championship season.

"I talked to him for about 30 minutes," Haley said, smiling at the memory. "I had a rookie card that he signed for me. He used a gold pen."

Another fond recollection: cashing in on a big stack of Duckworth cards at a show where the Blazer center was signing autographs.

"Nobody had any Duckworth cards," he said. "I started selling 'em for 50 cents apiece. I made a lot of money on him that day."

Haley's been running the "Go Blazers!" message on his destination sign since he started driving for the Corvallis Transit System in 1995, yet very few passengers have ever commented on it. One of the rare exceptions came several years ago, when a string of disappointing seasons and well-publicized scrapes with the law earned the team a derisive new nickname: Jail Blazers.

"A guy got on the bus and said, 'What are you advertising those deadbeats for?'" Haley recalled.

"I said, 'The Blazers will be back. If you're gonna be a fan of a team, you gotta be with 'em through the thick and the thin. Look at the Beavers.'"

Now Haley sees his prediction coming true. With up-and-coming young talents such as Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden, he believes his beloved Blazers are back in a big way.

"I really like this team," he said. "I think they're on their way."

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John Haley

AGE: Old enough to retire, just not ready to stop working

FAMILY: Sons John Haley Jr., 57, of Spokane, Wash.; Michael Dean Haley, 55, of San Luis Obispo, Calif.; and Andy Haley, 29, of Corvallis; daughter Marci Silbernagle, 27, of Albany; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren

OCCUPATION: Corvallis Transit System bus driver

CLAIM TO FAME: Big-time Portland Trail Blazer fan

QUOTABLE: "My favorite basketball team is the Portland Trail Blazers and anybody who can beat the Lakers."