Utah initially embraced John Stockton - the little point guard from little Gonzaga University who will have his jersey retired tonight - because he helped a long-suffering professional basketball team win games.

The Jazz averaged 55 losses in their first four seasons after moving from New Orleans, and the dismal product that was being put on the floor resulted in miserable attendance and constant financial problems.

In 1984, however, the situation started to change.

Out of thin air, the Jazz went 47-35, won the Midwest Division and reached the playoffs for the first time.

In June, the Jazz used the 16th pick in the draft on Stockton, who along with Karl Malone would form their foundation for nearly two decades.

Utah never missed the playoffs with Stockton on the roster - no coincidence. During a 10-year stretch, the Jazz averaged 55.6 victories, won at least 60 games three times, played in five Western Conference finals and reached the NBA Finals twice.

That kind of success makes anyone popular with basketball fans - even Dennis Rodman and Bill Laimbeer.

Beyond the wins and losses, though, Stockton gradually emerged as a Steve Young-type celebrity in Utah.

Like it or not.

"He didn't understand the outcry to get his autograph or shake his hand," former teammate Jim Les said. "He never bought into that."

Still, the fans grew to appreciate Stockton, whose pursuit of a private life away from basketball seemed to endear him even more to family-loving Utahns.

Be like Mike?

In Utah, kids wanted to be like Stock.

"He looks like a guy you could be like," former Gonzaga coach Dan Fitzgerald once said.

Said ex-Jazz coach Frank Layden: "He arrived at the perfect place at the perfect time. His temperament was just right for this community and for this team. . . . Then Karl Malone came along."

Utah stole Malone with the 13th pick in the 1985 draft, and together the dynamic duo carried the Jazz to previously unimaginable heights.

"They were Batman and Robin," Layden said. "They set the tone, and Jerry [Sloan] was the perfect captain of the ship."

Like Donnie and Marie, Stockton and Malone became synonymous with the state that eagerly adopted them.

They grew into NBA superstars together, always seemingly appreciative of what the other brought to the relationship.

"They did something that is very important to a good team," Layden said. "They were great players without flaunting the fact that they were the stars. That can kill a team. This stuff nowadays: 'It's my team. It's his team.' . . . Those guys never got caught up in that. I don't ever recall any jealousies."

Apparently, there weren't any major ones.

"We had some ups and downs, for sure," Stockton said. "He wasn't always happy with me, and vice versa. But I don't know of a more loyal guy - toward our friendship or me as a teammate. . . .

"He is the best power forward in history and the hardest working power forward in history. After a loss, he was always the first guy in the weight room. Who can't follow that? . . . I thank God I got to play with him."

Like Malone, Stockton owns a unique sense of loyalty.

Years ago, when $10 million contracts still raised eyebrows, Pat Riley reportedly offered Stockton that much to play for the Miami Heat.

He preferred working for the Jazz, playing for Sloan and seeing whether Batman and Robin could bring home a championship.

Years later, Stockton was asked why he never seriously considered the Heat's offer or other maximum-type deals so frequently given to NBA stars - real and imagined.

"How much is enough?," he replied.

In his case, Stockton's sense of loyalty was planted by the parents.

"Everything started at home," he said. "The story my mom and dad told - one I remember - was about some family members who owned a small business in Idaho. Everybody had to buy what they needed from them. Once somebody said, 'What if it costs more?' And my grandmother said, 'That's your brother.' That was it."

Tonight, 20,000 fans will salute Stockton for his years of service with the Jazz and honorable celebrity in Utah during his jersey retirement ceremony.

"What has been really neat has been the effort put into it by so many people," Stockton said. "That means an awful lot to me."