Kurt Kragthorpe: All Jerry Sloan ever wanted was a fair shake, and that made an impression
By Kurt Kragthorpe | Special to The Tribune
| May 22, 2020, 7:00 p.m.
| Updated: 9:47 p.m.
(Trent Nelson | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloan won his 1,000th game as coach of the Jazz on Nov. 7, 2008.
(Trent Nelson | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloan won his 1,000th game as coach of the Jazz on Nov. 7, 2008.
(Trent Nelson | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloan talks to his team during his 1,000th game as coach of the Jazz on Nov. 7, 2008.
(Hector Amezcua | AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee) Jerry Sloan, left, is escorted off the court by assistant coach Phil Johnson and John Stockton, right, after he was ejected from a game in Sacramento in 2003.
(Photo courtesy Utah Jazz/NBAE) Karl Malone and John Stockton of the Utah Jazz head onto the court after meeting with head coach Jerry Sloan during a game against the Atlanta Hawks in 1986.
(Jeremy Harmon | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloan hugs Jazz owner Gail Miller after announcing his resignation as head coach in 2011.
(Tribune file photo) Jerry and Bobbye Sloan in 1989.
(Steve Griffin | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloan shakes hands with team owner Larry Miller as Sloan is honored for winning his 1000 game prior to the start of the Utah Jazz Milwaukee Bucks game at the EnergySolutions Arena Wednesday November 19, 2008.
(Steve Griffin | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloan gets animated as he screams at the refs during a playoffs game against the Sacramento Kings on April 30, 2003.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jerry Sloan shakes hands with Thunder coach P.J. Carlesimo after the Jazz beat them to give Sloan his 1000th win with the team on Nov. 7, 2007.
(Francisco Kjolseth | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloan speaks with the media following a practice on Friday, May 25, 2007.
(Scott Sommerdorf | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloan answers questions at the end of the 2007/2008 season on May 17, 2008.
(Rick Egan | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloanshakes hands with Andrei Kirilenko after getting his 1000th win as a coach on Dec. 11, 2008.
(Chris Detrick | Tribune file photo) Deron Williams and Jerry Sloan talk during a playoffs game against the Rockets in 2007.
(Trent Nelson | Tribune file photo) Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan does a pre-game interview with Rod Hundley in 2009.
(Chris Detrick | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloan yells to his players during a game in 2009.
(Francisco Kjolseth | Tribune photo illustration) Jerry Sloan is seen surrounded by players Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko, Derek Fisher Mehmet Okur and Deron Williams prior to the 2007 playoffs.
(Steve Griffin | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloan yells support form the bench in his first quarter as head coach of the Utah Jazz in 1988.
(Scott Sommerdorf | Tribune file photo) Antoine Carr, left, former coaches Phil Jackson, and Jerry Sloan, joke about old times with John Stockton, right as Jazz players from the 1997 team had a reunion at the Jazz practice facility on Wednesday, March 22 2017.
(Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune) Coaches, players and staff members of the Utah Jazz 1997 team are introduced to the fans during halftime of the Utah Jazz versus New Your Knicks at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City Wednesday March 22, 2017.
(Al Hartmann | Tribune file photo) Fans lean over the rail to get Jerry Sloan's autograph before a game in 2004.
(Leah Hogsten | Tribune file photo) Left to right, John L. Doleva, president and CEO of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, stands with Hall of Fame inductees Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Jerry Sloan, John Stockton, and C. Vivian Stringer.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jerry Sloan and his his wife Tammy at their home in Riverton on Friday, April 27, 2018.
(Trent Nelson | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloan as the Utah Jazz celebrate the 20th anniversary of the franchise's first Western Conference Championship and honor members of the 1996-1997 squad, in Salt Lake City, Wednesday March 22, 2017.
(Scott Sommerdorf | Tribune file photo)
A fan shakes hands with former Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan before a playoff game against the Houston Rockets on May 6, 2018.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jerry Sloan at his home in Riverton on Friday, April 27, 2018.
(Leah Hogsten | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloan wipes a tear from his eye as he is inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.
(Scott Sommerdorf | Tribune file photo) Former Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan and assistant coach Phil Johnson (far left) listen as they are applauded In the Utah House of Representatives, Monday, March 7, 2011. The two former coaches were accompanied by Gail Miller, wife of former Jazz owner Larry Miller (right).
(Danny Chan La | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloan takes issue with a call during a game against the Heat in 2007.
(Trent Nelson | Tribune file photo) Jerry Sloan shakes hands with C.J. Miles during Sloan's 1,000th victory as coach of the Jazz on Nov. 7, 2008.
(Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rod Hundley talks with Jerry Sloan inside of the newly dedicated "Hot Rod Hundley Media Center" at the EnergySolutions Arena Friday, January 29, 2010. Hundley worked for 35 years as the broadcast voice for the Utah Jazz.
(Scott Sommerdorf | Tribune file photo) Former Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, center, jokes with former Jazz coach Frank Layden as Layden slips in late to the press conference honoring Sloan for his time with the Jazz, Friday, Jan. 31, 2014. John Stockton is at left, and Karl Malone at right.
(Ed Feeney | Chicago Tribune Photo) The Bulls had their first winning seasons starting in 1970, when they posted four consecutive seasons with 50 or more wins. On those teams were Norman Van Lier, left, team captain Chet Walker, the original Bull, Jerry Sloan, and Bob Love, Nov. 1, 1973.
(Photo courtesy of the University of Evansville) Jerry Sloan (52) playing for the Purple Aces. Sloan won two NCAA national championships with the team in 1964 and 1965.
(Scott Sommerdorf | Tribune file photo) Steve Miller hands Jerry Sloan a commemorative jersey noting his total NBA victories as he was honored during halftime as the Jazz hosted the Golden State Warriors, Friday, Jan. 31, 2014.
Editor’s note: Kurt Kragthorpe covered the Utah Jazz and Jerry Sloan as a beat writer with the Deseret News and a columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune. Now retired, Kragthorpe shares some of his favorite recollections of the longtime Jazz coach.
A life-changing job promotion would not alter Jerry Sloan’s habits.
After becoming the Jazz’s head coach in December 1988, Sloan maintained his pregame routine that included dinner in the press room. Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners. Jerry dined among the scribes.
This explains how we intersected in the Salt Palace hallway that night, during my fourth season as a Jazz beat writer — an assignment that initially overwhelmed me at age 24. Sloan had always encouraged me in those early years. I told him I knew our relationship would change, now that he was the head coach.
He asked only that I judge him fairly.
After suddenly stepping down from coaching in 2011, Sloan told that story during his farewell news conference. I nodded, recognizing how his words had resonated with me.
Sloan and broadcaster “Hot Rod” Hundley were two of the most supportive people to me in those early years on the beat, and now they’re gone. Looking back at those days of writers flying with the players and coaches on commercial planes and riding on the team bus, it all seems rather quaint, almost unprofessional. That’s not to say the coverage was any softer, just that the interaction was much more personal.
In moving from the Deseret News to The Salt Lake Tribune, with varied job descriptions, I missed out on the Jazz’s epic adventures of the 1990s. How weird is this? The first of Sloan’s playoff series victories that I actually witnessed in person didn’t come until 2007, after I had become a Tribune columnist.
Yet that gap made the team’s run to the Western Conference finals more meaningful to me than if I had covered the NBA Finals years. Game 7 of the ‘07 first-round series in Houston remains indelible, especially how Sloan said afterward that he’d never been prouder of a team.
In 2010, Sloan did some of his best work, beating Denver in a first-round series without Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur. Then came a series defeat against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers for the third year in a row, though. So here we are in 2020, a year when, improbably, Bryant and Sloan both have died.
In Sloan’s case, we had some warning. His 2016 disclosure of Parkinson’s disease and other neurological issues made it inevitable that his life would be shortened.
One of the most memorable stories I’ve ever done was about Jazz fans whose devotion to the team was cited in their obituaries. Inevitably, the family members I interviewed mentioned how admiration of Sloan was a driving force of their connection to the Jazz. That bond will last forever, for many Utahns.
At this point, a confession: By the time Sloan left the Jazz in 2011, I was ready for another voice in all of those interviews. One thing about Sloan, he would never just play along with a scripted story angle. He was never derisive or demeaning, but any question was merely his invitation to talk about whatever he wanted.
Working with Jazz coaches Tyrone Corbin and Quin Snyder was refreshing in that sense, although I came to miss hearing Sloan’s voice.
His message from 1988 never left me. In the last phase of my full-time newspaper career, I covered University of Utah athletics. When athletic director Mark Harlan tweeted a review of my work last December, one word jumped off the page: fair.
Jerry Sloan had influenced me, to the end.
By Kurt Kragthorpe | Special to The Tribune
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